Wednesday's Rugby World Cup action comes from Pool A when Italy take on Uruguay in Nice
Italy v Uruguay, Wednesday 20th September, Nice, KO 17:45 (South African time)
Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU), Jordan Way (RA)
TMO: Tom Foley (RFU)
Weather Forecast - Nice
Italy:
Italy were not in action in Round 2 but they opened their tournament with a 52-8 victory over Namibia. They started that game in the region of 33.5 point favourites and they improved in the second half after leading just 17-8 at half time. Italy scored 7 tries in total to bank a bonus point with Cannone, Garbisi, Lamb, Capuozzo, Faiva, Zuliani, Odogwu all crossing and Allan successfully converted all of them.
Coming into the the third week of action France top this pool with 2 wins and 8 log points. New Zealand have 5 points from their 2 matches, Italy also have 5 from their 1 game, Uruguay have yet to open their points account after 1 match and Namibia have nothing to show from their 2 games so far.
Italy have yet to make it beyond the pool stage in the RWC and after this they will face New Zealand and finally France and they will have to win 1 of those matches to stand any chance of qualifying from this pool. Italy are trading at around 500/1 to win the tournament with Betway. The same bookmakers prices the Italian's at 38/1 to make it to the quarter finals.
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Uruguay:
Uruguay faced the daunting prospect of facing host nation France in their first match last week but despite being given more than 50 points start on the bookmakers main handicap line, they performed with huge credit in a 27-12 defeat in Lille.
Frietas in the first half and Amaya in the second scored the tries for Uruguay who were 13-5 down at half time and it was only when a much changed Les Bleus side scored their third and final try 7 minutes from the end that the game was beyond the South Americans.
After this Uruguay will come up against Namibia and then the All Blacks. As far as the RWC outright betting Uruguay are 5/2 with Betway to finish bottom of this pool with Namibia fav's for the wooden spoon at around 0.28/1.
Team News
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Lorenzo Pani, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Paolo Garbisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Giovanni Pettinelli, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Paolo Odogwu.
Uruguay: 15 Baltazar Amaya, 14 Gaston Mieres, 13 Tomas Inciarte, 12 Andres Vilaseca (captain), 11 Nicolas Freitas, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 9 Santiago Arata, 8 Manuel Diana, 7 Santiago Civetta, 6 Manuel Ardao, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 2 German Kessler, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti.
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Agustin Ormaechea, 22 Felipe Berchesi, 23 Bautista Basso
The Betting
11h35 19 September
Italy -23.5 points at 9/10
Uruguay +25.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap opened +27.5 but is down to +23 Uruguay in places.
I handicapped this game +14.5 so am not surprised to see the movement although I acknowledge that I was probably a few points shy.
Uruguay impressed me in their opener against France who while not full strength still put out a strong side.
Italy did what was required of them in their opener against Namibia but they will know their big game is the All Blacks next Friday and while they won’t take Uruguay lightly I don’t think they will be as up for this as their opponents who are eyeing a giant scalp.
I am backing my original instincts here and will take advantage of the Betxchange Boost and take 1/1 on the +25.5 still available (5k max, can’t use in multiples)
Stay close to our forum thread where I will post any more bets on this game
BET: 5 units Uruguay +25.5* at 1/1 at Betxchange
Move quickly if you like this one because this line will shorten
*Update: This line moved quickly into +24.5 and I think it was moving as I posted - the bet stands at +24.5
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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