Don’t take Italy lightly

The Springboks play their third World Cup pool match against Italy tomorrow and if they win, they will be assured of a second-place finish behind New Zealand and a spot in the quarterfinals.

The Italians haven’t been playing great rugby over the past few years and lost all of their Six Nations games. But while their opening victories may have come against small teams such as Namibia, whom they beat by 25 points, and Canada, whom they beat by 41 points, a number of rugby scribes have been impressed by their performances.

The Italian coach has also made it clear his side are targeting this match (as opposed to the All Blacks game) and we have seen in this tournament how teams can perform far above their usual levels with the required motivation.

The Boks certainly cannot take this Italian side lightly and I must admit to being surprised that South Africa are 28.5-point favourites for the match.

Italy have been given a start of over four converted tries and while I am not among those who think Italy will beat us, I do believe that the (+28.5) rates as an excellent bet.

For those not willing to bet against the Springbok team, there will be plenty of markets to interest you on the day.

Some of the fun or novelty markets include which player will score the first try and we can expect Makazole Mapimpi to be the market leader here around the 7/1 or 8/1 mark.

Brent Graham is a sports betting blogger at

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