What Are The Odds On Scotland To Win The Rugby World Cup?
Daire Walsh
They have a chance to make it back-to-back wins this weekend, but the best betting sites are still not convinced that Scotland are realistic contenders at the Rugby World Cup finals in France.
Following a fallow week in the wake of their defeat to champions South Africa at Stade Velodrome in Marseille on September 10, Gregor Townsend’s side were looking to bounce back against Tonga in Nice last Sunday and reinvigorate their Pool B campaign.
Despite the game being in the melting pot with half an hour left on the clock, the Scots ultimately turned on the afterburners to claim the spoils in clinical fashion.
Adding to earlier five-pointers from George Turner, Duhan van der Merwe, Kyle Steyn and Rory Darge, George Horne, Blair Kinghorn and Darcy Graham also crossed the whitewash to guide Scotland towards a 45-17 bonus point victory.
This puts them five points clear of both the Tongans and the Romanians, who will provide opposition to the Scots at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille on Saturday (8pm, ITV1).
Scotland An Outside Bet For World Cup Success
As it stands, Scotland are certainly not out of the running and will fight tooth and nail to make it into the knockout rounds of the tournament.
Yet with Ireland and South Africa – the number one and number three ranked teams in the world – also in their pool, it was always anticipated that the Scots were going to have their work cut out to claim a last-eight berth.
This goes some way to explaining why (in spite of their status as the fifth-placed side in the world rankings) Scotland are seen as massive outsiders with the best betting sites for rugby union for World Cup glory.
The fact that it is all of 32 years since they reached the last-four of the tournament can also be taken into account in making the Scots just ninth favourites to secure the Webb Ellis Cup.
Strong performances thus far has put even the likes of England, Wales and Fiji in front of them in the betting order and – as it stands – the odds on Scotland winning the World Cup are 100/1.
This value can be found from betting operators such as Bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes and Parimatch.
Scots Should Continue Winning Ways Against Romania
While losing their opening game to the Springboks was always likely to put them on the back-foot, Scotland should at least be able to keep their World Cup dream alive heading into their final pool encounter with Ireland at Stade de France on October 7.
In their two games to date against Ireland and South Africa, Romania have scored just eight points and conceded a whopping 158.
This means Eugene Apjok’s men are already out of the reckoning for a knockout spot, along with Namibia and Chile from Pools A and D respectively.
Although the consensus is that Scotland aren’t quite at the same level as Ireland and the Springboks at the moment, the seven tries accrued against a much tougher opponent in the form of Tonga suggests they are more than capable of garnering five points from their clash with Romania.
This is reflected in the fact that the lowest odds to be found on Scotland getting the better of Romania are 1/500, while the highest is an astonishing 1/1000 with Bet365.
Scots Should Still Be Alive Heading Into Ireland Test
Having used 29 players across their opening two games, Townsend may look to give run-outs to those who have yet to feature in France this weekend.
Stuart McInally might have been in line to make the match day 23 after he was previously drafted into the squad as a replacement for Dave Cherry, but he suffered a neck injury that has ruled him out of the remainder of the tournament and also brought his professional career to an end.
Should they emerge with the maximum return from the Romanian test, Scotland would be four points adrift of Ireland heading into their pool showdown at Saint-Denis on Saturday week.
The expectation is that their opponents on that day will extend a winning run that currently stands at 16 games, but going into the contest as underdogs is something that will suit Townsend’s troops down to the ground.
Bookies Expect Scotland To Fall Short In Last-Eight Bid
Nevertheless, the odds on Scotland not reaching the World Cup quarter-finals are currently 1/12 – in stark contrast to the 25/1 that is available on Ireland failing to qualify for the last-eight.
Although they have made it that far on seven previous occasions (the same as Ireland), the odds on Scotland sealing a spot in the quarters are 6/1 with BetVictor.