Wales Rugby World Cup Odds: Dragons A Big Outside Bet To Win Webb Ellis Cup
While they haven’t been far from perfect thus far in the tournament, Wales find themselves in a positive position as we enter the third week of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) in France.
From the 12 teams that have played two games to date in the tournament, the Welsh are one of just two sides to have recorded a brace of bonus point wins.
Yet with some tough encounters on the horizon – including this weekend – UK betting sites aren’t convinced they have what it takes to forge a bid for World Cup glory.
The other team at the RWC to have accumulated a maximum of 10 points from the opening two rounds of fixtures are none other than Ireland.
Given their status as the number one ranked country in the world, and the fact that Romania and Tonga are some way below their current level, this came as little surprise.
Wales Have Strong Recent Pedigree In The World Cup
Following seven quarter-final defeats across the nine previous editions of the World Cup, Ireland are looking to reach the last-four of the tournament for the first time in their history.
This is something that Wales have managed on three different occasions, however with semi-final appearances at the 1987, 2011 and 2019 tournaments already to their name.
During that inaugural World Cup all of 36 years ago, Wales got the better of co-hosts Australia on the final weekend of the tournament to claim third spot in the overall standings.
Under the stewardship of New Zealand native Warren Gatland, Wales twice reached the penultimate phase of the World Cup in recent times and came especially close to claiming a place in the showpiece decider on both occasions.
In 2011, they suffered an agonising one-point reversal (9-8) to France in Auckland, having lost the inspirational Sam Warburton to a red card on 18 minutes.
Eight years later, eventual champions South Africa required a 76th minute penalty from Handre Pollard to claim a 19-16 success.
Gatland Returned To Wales Hot Seat Less Than 12 Months Ago
The subsequent bronze final defeat to his home country of New Zealand was to be Gatland’s last game at the helm of Wales, but he made a sensational return to the hot seat at the end of 2022 after fellow Kiwi Wayne Pivac was relieved of his duties.
Although Pivac won a Six Nations Championship in 2021 to supplement the Pro12 title he secured with Welsh region Scarlets four years earlier, performances and results dipped alarmingly in the 18 months that followed.
This led the Welsh Rugby Union to offer Gatland a second stint as their head coach and even though a record of two wins from eight games in the lead-up to the tournament was worrying, it was ultimately a successful beginning to this year’s World Cup for the Dragons.
Wales Have Gotten The Job Done Against Fiji And Portugal
In their Pool C opener against Fiji in Bordeaux on September 10, Wales held out for a 32-26 win.
When you consider the Fijians have since defeated Australia, this victory now looks like a particularly valuable one for Wales.
Gatland went on to make wholesale changes for their showdown with Portugal in Nice six days later and it wasn’t the walk in the park that the best betting sites for rugby union were expecting.
The Portuguese could have gotten more points on the board if they possessed a greater ruthless streak, but Wales emerged on the right side of a 28-8 scoreline in the end.
Although there was almost three minutes of stoppage-time played when it arrived, international centurion Taulupe Faletau bagged a bonus point try to ensure Wales created significant daylight over both Fiji and Australia at the summit of the pool table.
Welsh Slightly Behind Upcoming Opponents Australia In World Cup Betting
It is the latter that Wales will face in Lyon this Sunday and despite the fact they had contrasting fortunes against Fiji, the Wallabies are slightly ahead of their forthcoming opponents in the Rugby World Cup odds.
Whilst 10Bet have them at 22/1, most UK bookmakers are offering odds of 25/1 on Australia securing their third Webb Ellis Cup crown.
From a Wales perspective, Unibet might have them at 25/1, but Bet365, 888sport and Betway only see them as a 33/1 possibility as tournament winners.
Elsewhere, Spreadex are even less convinced about their World Cup candidacy with current odds of 40/1 on the Dragons claiming a breakthrough World Cup success.
Australia Marginal Favourites To Beat Wales
That said, there isn’t a huge amount of difference in odds between the two sides and the same goes for the match itself this weekend.
BetVictor has a slight preference for Wales at 10/11, but the odds of 19/20 on offer with the same bookie for Australia to win suggests it will be a close-run affair.
Though the blockbuster clash of Ireland and South Africa in Pool B will garner the bulk of the attention, this is arguably the most important game of this weekend.
Should Wales emerge triumphant, it will put them on the brink of a knockout spot and leave Australia on the cusp of a pool stage elimination for the very first time at a Rugby World Cup.
Should the Wallabies return to winning ways, it will make Pool C wide open again.
Whereas Wales could afford to rest the bulk of their frontline players against Portugal last weekend, Australia didn’t have the same luxury for their duel with Fiji. Only time will tell if this will be an advantage or a disadvantage for either side.