Tuilagi can pile on the misery for sorry Tonga
England will be far too strong while South Africa may have the edge over New Zealand
While the host nation kicked off the Rugby World Cup against Russia yesterday, the tournament really clicks into gear this weekend with five of the fancied contenders playing their opening matches.
The first game in Pool B this morning threatens to be an absolute cracker, as the top two in the betting in the outright market, New Zealand and South Africa, clash in Yokohama. For the first time in the past few World Cups, there has been little hype surrounding the All Blacks in the lead-up to the tournament after some inconsistent performances in the Rugby Championship, in which they lost to South Africa.
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has made some interesting tactical switches in the run-up to the World Cup and there are doubts surrounding a number of his positional changes in the past couple of months.
South Africa have been heavily backed into 4/1 joint second favourites with England to taste World Cup glory and it is easy to see why as their victory in the recent Rugby Championship shows they are peaking at the right time.
The aggregate score between these two sides over the past three matches is 82-82, which means that South Africa to beat New Zealand with a six-point start England to beat Tonga with 39-point handicap Manu Tuilagi to be England’s top tryscorer in the tournament South Africa must be backed in the handicap market at 10/11 with a six-point start.
Having tipped England at 4/1 to follow in the footsteps of the nation’s cricket team by winning a World Cup, I am expecting Eddie Jones’s side to put in a dominant performance in their opening pool match against Tonga tomorrow.
The Tongans were beaten by Wales last year by 50 points and conceded 92 points to New Zealand last month, which suggests they will be outclassed.
England can also be backed at 10/11 to overcome a 39-point handicap in this match and I envision them doing that with points to spare.
While England’s record-winning margin in the World Cup of 98 points in the 111-13 win over Uruguay in the 2003 World Cup is unlikely to be threatened, England could run up a huge points tally and thrash a poor Tongan side in Sapporo.
For those of you thinking that 10/11 is too short to be getting involved with, I do like the look of Manu Tuilagi to be England’s top tryscorer in the tournament at 10/1. He has been a fixture in Jones’s side of late, and was virtually unstoppable in England’s impressive warm-up victory over Ireland.
Telegraph columnist Sir Ian Mcgeechan wrote after that Ireland match: “The other major building block in England’s World Cup challenge is Manu Tuilagi. He was simply unplayable against Ireland.” Who am I to disagree with one of rugby’s knights?
Tuilagi must be backed to light up the tournament with his direct running and impeccable ballhandling skills.