Wales were the clear-cut winners of this season’s Six Nations Rugby Championship. Yet that has not been enough to make them favorites of the New Jersey sports bookies.
Not for the Six Nations 2020, nor for this year’s upcoming 9th Rugby World Cup in Japan
FanDuel sees England (+140) and Ireland (+200) as having a better chance than Wales (+240) of winning next season’s Six Nations
And yes, powerful New Zealand remains their favorites to retain the 9th Rugby World Cup in Japan in September.
At +110, the All Blacks top William Hills list of most likely winners – and deservedly so.
However, England (+400), Ireland (+450) and South Africa (+800) are all given a better chance of winning than Wales (+1000). Yes, this despite the fact that they Welshmen have beaten them all during the past three or four months.
Why this bookmaker disregard for Wales?
Why this disregard for the high-flying Welshman? It may be due to the fact that Wales are not among the elite teams that can claim to have won the World Cup in the past. These are New Zealand (three times), South Africa (twice), Australia (twice) and England (once).
It can’t have anything to do with the composition of the four World Cup pools.
Wales are in Pool D which they could easily win on their recent form. Australia, their toughest hurdle to winning the pool, has looked mediocre for some time now.
Fiji are a great sevens rugby nation but, have never looked like winning the World Cup in the 15-man game. Georgia and Uruguay? It’s doubtful that these two countries are ready just yet to take on and beat the game’s big guns.
Wales look to be a good bet then to make it into the quarter-finals along with the Aussies and guess what? They won’t have New Zealand to contend with when they get there. Nor will they have Ireland and South Africa, the two teams that beat the Kiwis in the past season, to worry about.
These potentially dangerous contenders are all in Pools A and B and in a different set of quarter-final brackets.
If Wales top Pool D they are most likely to be playing France or Argentina who are not unbeatable. Should they finish second in their pool, they’ll probably have to face up to England. With wily Aussie Eddie Jones as their head coach and Kiwi John Mitchell as an assistant coach, England won’t be easy to stop.
England not easy to stop, but Wales have done it
It can be and has been done, however. Wales, in fact, did just that a month or two back when they wrapped-up the Six Nations championship.
The quarterfinals will be critical for their World Cup hopes. Win it and the Welshmen’s most likely semi-final opponents will be the Springboks whom they have beaten recently. Lose it and they’ll almost certainly be up against the formidable All Blacks.
For once, though, even ‘ENZED’ might not defeat the Welsh Dragon. There’s been vulnerability about them in the past year we haven’t seen in a good long while. At the same time there has also been a tigerish confidence about Wales that’s been missing for too long.
This could be their time. It’s certainly not impossible that Wales will make their World Cup break-through at Asia’s first World Cup.
At +110 (a dollar only wins 10 cents) NZ, in the circumstances, are hardly worth putting money on. Against England (4/1) and Ireland (9/2), Wales at +1000 (10/1) could well be the one to gamble on. South Africa at +800 might be a good second choice.
Under new coach ‘Rassie’ Erasmus, the ‘Boks’ were not flawless. They did lose to Wales, NZ, and England last season. But they also beat NZ and looked to have more potential than for some time
The Rugby World Cup Pools
POOL A: Ireland, Scotland, Japan, Russia and Samoa.
POOL B: New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Namibia, Canada.
POOL C: England, France, Argentina, United States, Tonga
POOL D: Australia, Wales, Georgia, Fiji, Uruguay,
The Odds (as on March 24, 2019)
NEW ZEALAND +110
ENGLAND +400
IRELAND +450
SOUTH AFRICA +800
WALES +1000
AUSTRALIA +1200
FRANCE +2200
SCOTLAND +3000
ARGENTINA +4000
JAPAN +20000
FIJI +30000
SAMOA +50000
TONGA +75000
GEORGIA +75000
ITALY +75000
USA +100000
URUGUAY +300000
RUSSIA +300000.
