Rugby World Cup: South Africa to continue winning start with rout
Published:The home nations might not be in action until the weekend, but there are still plenty of games worth checking out this week.
And, as always, there are loads of brilliant markets available to take advantage of with Ladbrokes…
Italy v Russia (Tuesday, 8.30am)
Italy start things off when they face a Russian side who were absolutely dire in their defeat against the USA.
The conditions in New Plymouth may have been poor but the weather can’t be blamed for all the errors in handling and kicking from Russia.
Meanwhile, Italy were solid in the first-half against Australia before the two-times world champions went through the gears and ran out comfortable 32-6 winners.
Italy have beaten the Russians in all three of their previous meetings with an average difference of over 33 points.
Back Italy with a -32 point handicap at 5/2.
Tonga v Japan (Wednesday, 8.30am)
Japan head into this game on the back of soul destroying hammerings against France and New Zealand, while Tonga also have two defeats to their name against Canada and the All Blacks.
This promises to be an extremely tight game, with less than three points separating the sides on each of their previous three meetings.
However, it’s Japan who have edged all of their last five games so back them to win at a very tidy 5/2, or put some cash on Tonga with an 8 point head start at 10/11.
South Africa v Namibia (Thursday, 9am)
The fact South Africa are 1/750 to win this game shows you the gulf in class between the sides.
Their only previous encounter saw South Africa run out 105-13 winners in 2007.
Peter de Villiers’ side were miles better in their last game against Fiji than they were in their narrow opening victory over Wales, while Namibia have shipped 49 points in both of their first two games against lesser sides Fiji and Samoa.
Backing the defending champions to win at 10/11 with a 56 point handicap looks the bet.
