What Are The Odds On Scotland To Win The Rugby World Cup?
They were always going to be a long shot for overall success and with a defeat already to their name, the best betting sites don’t see Scotland as a viable candidate for glory at the World Cup finals in France.
Widely regarded as the best Scottish team for a number of years, Gregor Townsend’s charges were extremely competitive in the Six Nations Championship during the spring and ultimately achieved a respectable third place finish behind Grand Slam winners Ireland and 2022 champions France.
For the third year running, the Scots overcame England in the Six Nations – this time with a scoreline of 29-23 at Twickenham Stadium in London.
In addition to picking up five Championship points in this fixture, the visitors also retained the much-coveted Calcutta Cup.
This also moved Scotland up to fifth place in the world rankings, which equalled their joint-highest position that was previously set in May 2018.
Some impressive performances in their warm-up games kept them in this spot for the start of the World Cup and morale was certainly strong with players, coaches and supporters alike.
Scotland In One Of World Cup’s Most Difficult Pools
That said, there was also the realisation that the Scots were in an incredibly tough pool, one that arguably was more difficult than the one they failed to get out of at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Back then, Scotland were up against the tournament hosts and Ireland – both of whom they ultimately lost to.
The Irish are once again alongside their Celtic cousins in Pool B of this year’s tournament and, thanks to their success in the spring and their status as the number one ranked team in world rugby, are seemingly in a much better place than in 2019.
Although Tonga and Romania are teams that Scotland are more than capable of defeating, South Africa’s presence loomed large when the pool stages of this World Cup were officially announced.
Springboks Had The Better Of Gregor Townsend’s Men In Opener
Defending champions from 2019 (having also secured the Webb Ellis Cup in 1995 and 2007), the Springboks are only just behind Ireland in the rankings table and provided the Scots with a daunting challenge in their pool opener at Stade Velodrome in Marseille last Sunday.
Nevertheless, Scotland’s expectations are high enough that they were never going to be there just to make up the numbers.
Despite Manie Libbok knocking over a brace of penalties in the opening half, a three-pointer courtesy of Finn Russell left the gap at 6-3 heading into the second period.
This left Scotland with a fighting chance of claiming South Africa’s scalp, but a difficult spell on the resumption eventually proved to be their downfall.
After Pieter-Steph du Toit bagged a try on 47 minutes, Kurt-Lee Arendse dotted down three minutes later to leave the southern hemisphere outfit in the driving seat.
This may have been their final score of the game, but with Jacques Nienaber’s defence holding firm, they had 15 points to spare over Scotland (18-3).
Remaining Pool Games Crucial For Scotland As Odds Grow Longer
While there was no shame in this result, it means Scotland will more than likely need to win their remaining three games against Tonga, Romania and Ireland to make into the last-eight of the tournament.
With uncertainty surrounding their ability to achieve this goal, it is unsurprising that they are seen as a long shot to seal a first-ever World Cup title.
Given the shortest odds on them bagging the Webb Ellis Cup were 25/1 with Spreadexbefore the South African game, it was always seen as a tall order.
Yet they are much longer as a result of their loss to the Springboks with a general offering of 50/1 on the Scots winning the World Cup available with UK bookmakers.
Meanwhile, Coral are 80/1 on Scotland pulling off one of the biggest successes in the history of the tournament.
Scotland Now Have A Break Before Facing Tonga
Due to the fact that there are five teams in each pool, one nation is left idle for each round of games in the early stages at the Rugby World Cup.
It will be Scotland’s turn this weekend, with South Africa instead taking on Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday – a day after Ireland pit their wits against Tonga in Nantes.
The Scots will next be in action on September 24 for a showdown with Tonga at Stade de Nice. Townsend and his fellow coaches will be grateful to have a fortnight’s preparation as it will give them an opportunity to assess what needs to be done in order to keep their campaign on track.
It will also offer the players who didn’t make the match day 23 for the South African game ample opportunity to establish themselves as credible options for Townsend.
Included amongst this cohort is Ben Healy, who won a Six Nations Grand Slam with the Ireland U20s in 2019, but has since switched allegiances to Scotland thanks to his Turriff-raised mother.
Sunday week’s game will represent the second meeting between the Scots and Tonga at the World Cup – though there have been five overall clashes involving the two sides.
Back in 1995, Gavin Hastings contributed 31 points as Scotland overcame Tonga on a scoreline of 41-5 in a Pool D encounter at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
The expectation on the best betting sites for rugby union is that it will be much closer when the 2023 version of these teams meet again in Nice later on this month.
However, with Tonga set to be given a stern examination by Ireland this weekend, Scotland will hope to get their World Cup campaign back on track.