Wales Rugby World Cup Odds: Dragons A Big Outside Bet To Win Webb Ellis Cup
They find themselves in a much better position than this time last month, but Wales still remain outsiders for World Cup glory in the eyes of UK betting sites.
After recording just one victory from five games in this year’s Six Nations Championship, there were considerable doubts over how much an impact the Dragons were going to have at this year’s global tournament in France.
While they kick-started their warm-up series with a 20-9 win over England at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on August 5, Steve Borthwick’s men gained revenge on their close rivals with a 19-17 triumph in Twickenham Stadium seven days later.
A final warm-up followed in Cardiff against defending world champions South Africa on August 19, when Wales required a late converted try from Sam Parry just to bring their final deficit down to 36 points (52-16).
The return of Warren Gatland as head coach didn’t seem to be producing a significant bounce and the influential triumvirate of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb moved into test retirement.
That left question marks over their ability to advance beyond the pool stages of the World Cup.
Wales Safely Into Last-Eight Ahead Of Georgia Test
However, thanks to consecutive wins at the expense of Fiji, Portugal and Australia (the 40-6 scoreline in the latter represented their biggest-ever success over the Wallabies), Wales booked their place in the last-eight with one pool fixture still to play.
Top spot isn’t guaranteed just yet, but a losing bonus point against the already-eliminated Georgia in Nantes on Saturday will be enough in itself to hand them pole position.
When their pool rivals Australia opted to replace Dave Rennie as head coach with Eddie Jones, it was in part because of his past achievements in the Rugby World Cup.
That hasn’t worked for the Wallabies, but Wales seem to be reaping the benefits of having Gatland back at the helm.
Making Semi-Finals Is A Big Possibility For Welsh
Although he lost a quarter-final play-off whilst in charge of Ireland during the 1999 tournament, the New Zealander has guided Welsh to the last-four of the World Cup in 2011 and 2019.
In between, he was on course to bring his adopted nation to the penultimate phase in 2015, only for a Fourie du Preez try to squeeze South Africa past their challenge with four points to spare (23-19).
He will have the current crop of Welsh players believing that they are capable of making it through to another semi-final this time around and the odds on them making it this far are 4/6 with the best betting sites for rugby union.
Dragons Still Outsiders For World Cup Glory
Yet when it comes to being the overall winners of the World Cup – something they haven’t managed to date – Wales are still only seen as sixth favourites.
That said, the odds of a Dragons success in France have shortened slightly since their historic demolition of Australia.
Whereas the majority of UK bookmakers rated them as a 25/1 prospect in advance of that contest, 22/1 is now the most common odds to be found of Gatland’s men.
Even though Spreadex are going as far out as 28/1 on what – admittedly – would be an unlikely World Cup triumph for Wales, Coral, Unibet and Ladbrokes are rating their chances at 16/1.
Wales Expected To Fall Short As Tournament Reaches Closing Stages
Should Wales top Pool C as expected, their opponents in the last-eight will be either Argentina or Japan – who clash in Pool D at Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes this Sunday.
The Celtic nation would be more than capable of coming through this game, having beaten teams of similar calibre to the Pumas and the Brave Blossoms in previous World Cups.
Beyond that point, it is expected that Wales will be up against it in the race for the Webb Ellis title as their odds on betting apps show.