Rugby World Cup Odds: What Are The Odds On England Winning The Rugby World Cup?
They are one of just two teams that are already guaranteed a spot in the knockout rounds, but England are still only seen as an outsider with best betting sites for overall glory at the Rugby World Cup.
Despite both sides struggling for form in the wake of changing their head coaches at the end of 2022, it is English and Wales who will go into their final pool games in France knowing that a place in the last-eight is absolutely assured.
While the Welsh have accumulated 14 points from a possible 15 in their three games thus far in Pool C, Steve Borthwick’s England have the same points tally to date in Pool D.
England Already Assured Of Pool D Top Spot
Having relied on the excellent place-kicking of George Ford in an opening weekend win over Argentina in Marseille, the former Rugby World Cup champions (2003) subsequently recorded bonus point triumphs against Japan and Chile.
They will close out their pool campaign against Samoa on Saturday in Lille and, regardless of how the result goes, England will occupy top spot in the table and will therefore face the runners-up in Pool C.
However, even if he doesn’t select his strongest match day 23 for this Samoan test, Borthwick will presumably want to keep England on a winning trajectory after coming into the World Cup with just three victories from nine games as head coach.
As winners of the tournament 20 years ago – who are still, by extension, the only team from the northern hemisphere on the roll of honour – and finalists in 1991, 2007 and 2019, England maintain a strong World Cup pedigree.
Qualification for this year’s semi-finals look more than feasible and even though there are question marks surrounding their style of play, it would be foolish to rule Borthwick’s troops out of the equation if they made it that far in the tournament.
England Still Rated As World Cup Outsiders
Nevertheless, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and France were seen as the main contenders for the Webb Ellis Cup before the World Cup started and that very much remains the case.
The pecking order for that quartet has shifted at times (largely due to the fact that some of them have locked horns in the pool stages), but England are amongst a host of countries that have been kept outside of this top-four in the eyes of the best betting sites for rugby union.
This is still the shortest value available on them with William Hill, Coral and Unibet amongst a group of nine bookmakers that see the English as a 10/1 possibility for tournament success.
Spreadex are slightly less convinced about England’s prospects at the World Cup at 12/1.
They would be considered favourites in their forthcoming quarter-final (against Fiji, more than likely), it seems inevitable that an underdogs tag will be applied to them in the event that they reach the penultimate phase of the tournament.
Odds Are Short On England Making It To The Semi-Finals
Interestingly, because the biggest contenders are on the other side of the draw for the time being, England currently have the shortest odds of making it through to the World Cup semi-final.
Barring any surprises from Italy or Scotland in the coming days, New Zealand, France, Ireland and South Africa will make up the four quarter-finalists on the opposite side.
With two of these big-hitters set to miss out on the last-eight, England are presently 4/11 with William Hill to progress to the final-four.
Yet their warm-up defeat to Fiji at Twickenham Stadium on August 26 means England can’t afford to take anything for granted in a potential clash with the Pacific Islanders.
On the other hand, the English will look to use their status as outsiders to their advantage should their World Cup campaign extend beyond the quarter-final stages.