Ireland Rugby World Cup Odds: Latest Outright Betting For France 2023
Their pool stage campaign came to an end last weekend with yet another successful outing and with a big test coming on the horizon, betting sites are once again looking at Ireland’s chances of coming out on top at the Rugby World Cup.
Despite already accounting for Romania, Tonga and defending champions South Africa, Andy Farrell’s men went into their clash against Scotland at Stade de France on Saturday without the guarantee of a spot in the knockout rounds of the tournament.
There were a number of permutations that could potentially have come into play, but the devastating opening period performance from the Green Army helped to eliminate any doubts.
Ireland Deliver Strong Performance To Overcome Scotland And Top Their Pool
After James Lowe had crossed the whitewash with just 63 seconds gone on the clock, Ireland withstood significant pressure from the Scotland attack to keep themselves in the ascendancy.
Additional tries from Hugo Keenan (two) and Iain Henderson ensured a bonus point was wrapped up by the interval, but Ireland continued to inflict damage on the Scots through five-pointers from Dan Sheehan and Garry Ringrose.
Although Scotland bagged two tries in the space of three minutes during the final-quarter, Ireland were comfortable 36-14 winners in Saint-Denis.
This saw Ireland finishing on top of Pool B and setting up a quarter-final duel with New Zealand in the same stadium this coming Saturday (kick-off 8pm Irish time/9pm local time).
Ordinarily, Ireland would be expected to go into a World Cup duel against the All Blacks as underdogs. After all, the southern hemisphere giants are three-time Webb Ellis champions and the Irish are still searching for a first-ever victory at the quarter-final stage of the tournament.
Ireland Favourites Against New Zealand For The First Time Ever!
Nevertheless, current form has to come into the reckoning when determining who are favourites for a particular game.
Not only has their results and displays of the past 18 months put them ahead of New Zealand for their forthcoming meeting – they are seen as 8/11 favourites in comparison to a Kiwi side that are viewed as a 5/4 prospect – it also puts them well ahead of their opponents in the outright betting for Rugby World Cup 2023 glory.
Whereas New Zealand are the fourth favourites at the time of writing for an overall success (marginally behind fellow three-time winners South Africa), Ireland are right up there with host nation France as the bookies’ choice for a groundbreaking global success.
Astonishingly, 17 different betting firms are offering identical odds on either Ireland or France winning the World Cup.
There are some betting apps that view this game a little differently with William Hill making Ireland 11/4 favourites in contrast to the 3/1-rated French. On the other hand, Spread Ex has France at 5/2 and Ireland at 3/1.
Thanks in no small part to their 17-game winning streak and their status as Six Nations Grand Slam champions, Ireland do hold a slight advantage over the French at the moment.
Ireland And France Lead The Betting, But Will Be Severely Tested This Weekend
Yet in spite of them topping their respective pools, the Irish and France have been handed quarter-final draws that will severely test their mettle.
Coming into the tournament, they would have known there was a high probability of them facing one of two Rugby Championship powerhouses – if not each other – in the last-eight.
That is how it has proved and having defeated New Zealand on five occasions from 2016 to 2022, Ireland will now look to conquer the All Blacks for the first time in a World Cup game.
Back in the Japan-based finals of 2019, Ireland suffered a heavy defeat to New Zealand at the quarter-final phase of the tournament in Tokyo Stadium, Chofu. The Irish head coach for that game was Joe Schmidt and he had Andy Farrell on board as one of his assistants.
Fast forward to October 2023 and Farrell is in the Ireland hot seat, while his predecessor Schmidt is on board with the All Blacks as attack coach under the watchful eye of the soon-to-be-departed Ian Foster.
Irish Management Will Hope For A Clean Bill Of Health
Ireland appear to be in the best possible position to finally break their quarter-final hoodoo with the ruthlessness shown against the Scots indicative of where this current crop are at.
There have been some injury doubts arising from the Scotland game – or, in the case of Robbie Henshaw, during training last week – and Farrell will want as close to a full hand as possible as he looks to do what no Irish head coach before him has done and get them into a World Cup semi-final.
If they do manage to pull off another big win, the odds of them winning the World Cup may well have shortened come this time next week.
If New Zealand produce the goods on the day, it will more than likely lead to a serious re-evaluation amongst new betting sites as to who they anticipate to come away with the Webb Ellis Cup.