Ireland vs France Odds: World Rugby U20 Championship Final Tips, Analysis & Preview

Daire Walsh

The highly anticipated World Rugby Under 20 Championship final takes place this Friday, and betting sites are giving due consideration to who is most likely to come out on top in a tantalising Championship decider.

A little over five months on from their thrilling Six Nations Championship clash at Musgrave Park in Cork, Ireland and France are set to do battle once again – this time on the Cape Flats in Cape Town at Athlone Stadium.

This ground can hold up to 34,000 spectators and on the basis of the impressive form shown by both sides en route to the final, a compelling spectacle is anticipated.

Both Ireland And France Worthy Of Final Spots

After enjoying consecutive victories against Japan, New Zealand and Wales in Pool A of the tournament, Les Bleuets safely progressed to the Championship semi-final.

Despite conceding three tries in the opening half (and four overall), Sébastien Calvet’s charges comfortably disposed of England in a last-four encounter last Sunday in Athlone on a final score of 52-31.

Earlier on the same day – in the same venue – Ireland scored four converted tries to halt the title prospects of host nation South Africa.

James Nicholson contributed five-pointers in each half to hand Richie Murphy’s men a 31-12 success.

Irish Showing Battling Qualities While Dealing With Tragedy

Back-to-back U20 Grand Slam champions, Ireland played out a gripping 34-34 draw with arch rivals England in their opening game of Pool B.

Convincing wins followed over Australia and Fiji, with the latter being secured under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

Taking place last Tuesday week, the Ireland squad was first impacted by the news that recently-graduated St Michael’s College students Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall had died in separate incidents on the Greek Island of Ios on the previous weekend.

Six of the Irish squad are past pupils of the south Dublin school and three of them were part of the starting line-up for the Fijian game.

A short while after their match day 23 was announced for that particular clash, it was confirmed Munster elite performance officer Greig Oliver had also passed away following a paragliding collision in Cape Town.

A former Scottish international, Oliver was in South Africa to support his son Jack, who had featured off the bench for Ireland in the Australian game and was originally listed amongst the replacements for the Fiji fixture in Stellenbosch.

It is testament to the character within this Irish group that they were able to produce such strong showings against the Fijians and the South Africans.

Jack Oliver has since returned to Ireland and while head coach Murphy pointed out that they will be bringing something home from the southern hemisphere, his international colleagues are hell-bent on ensuring it is the top prize they have in their possession.

Ireland Backing Up Their Spring Time Heroics

They did claim the spoils in their last meeting with France, but it took an almighty effort to get over the line on that day.

Although it is rare that you score five tries in a game and come out on the wrong side of the final score, that is what happened the French back in February.

Supplementing three tries, the highly-rated Sam Prendergast kicked 18 points off the kicking tee to seal a 33-31 win for Ireland.

The Green Army have enjoyed phenomenal success in the U20 Six Nations in recent times and claiming a maiden World Championship would be another feather in their cap.

Ireland have appeared once in the final of this tournament back in 2016, when future senior internationals like James Ryan, Andrew Porter, Hugo Keenan and Jacob Stockdale featured in a showpiece defeat to England.

Ireland Go Into Friday’s Game As Underdogs

Yet in spite of their recent history against the French, Ireland are clear second favourites to win Friday’s final in the eyes of many betting apps.

Odds of 3.0 can be found with six different bookmakers on the Irish coming out on top, while there are others that rate their chances at 3.5.

There is certainly no doubting the pedigree of France at this grade with the last two World Rugby Under 20 Championships in 2018 and 2019 going the way of Les Bleuets.

The Covid-19 pandemic put this tournament on hold for three consecutive summers, but the newest crop of French hopefuls have maintained an increasingly powerful tradition.

They have scored a staggering 29 tries in just four games to date (four of those coming from Nicolas Depoortère), which makes it easy to see why they are being so strongly favoured to finish the job off against the Irish.

Whereas some new betting sites are offering the extremely short odds of 1.44.

They are one of five bookmakers that are offering 1.40 on a France victory and it will require a monumental display from Ireland to deny them in this particular quest.

Some Interesting Offers In Half-Time/Full-Time Betting

In that epic duel between the sides in the Six Nations, Ireland led at both half-time and full-time. The odds on such a scenario playing itself out again are 4.5.

However, it wasn’t until Prendergast struck a late penalty that the Irish were assured of a home triumph.

Odds of 7.0 are available across a number of the best rugby betting sites on Ireland being in the ascendancy at the interval, only for France to ultimately come out on top.

There is a longer value of 11.0 on the reverse happening, though there are also odds of 10.0 on this being the case.

Bookmakers see France being in front at both half and full-time as the most likely outcomes on Friday, with firms offering odds of 1.72 on the holders stamping their authority at the end of each 40-minute period.

Small Winning Margin Is Expected

When it comes to the predicted winning margins for the game, the shortest odds available are 5.5 on France triumphing by somewhere in the region of 6-10 points.

William Hill are offering 9.0 on an Irish win by the same general margin, while the same bookmakers are placing values of 6.0 and 7.0 on French and Irish successes of between 1-5 points respectively.

If both of these teams hit top form, it is entirely feasible that this game could go right down to the wire as it did in Cork back in February.

Whilst there is considerable firepower across both squads, the kicking prowess of the aforementioned Prendergast (Ireland) and Hugo Reus (France) could also have a major bearing on the final outcome.