Rugby World Cup

PREVIEW: RWC 2023 – Pool B – Ireland v Scotland

It’s the big one in Pool B with Scotland and Ireland going head-to-head in a fixture that will decide which of these two sides and South Africa exit the pool phase.

by
Darry Worthington
October 6, 2023

The Irish are currently in the pound seats as they sit a point off pool leaders South Africa and four points clear of the Scots, who currently occupy fourth place. As such, the Irish will progress as pool winners if they win the fixture, or they finish within a range of a losing bonus point.

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Ireland v Scotland
Saturday 7 October
Stade de France

Ireland 1/6 | Draw 28/1 | Scotland 15/4

Andy Farrell’s men are hot favourites to win this fixture and rightly so. The Irish have not lost a game this calendar year. In fact, it’s been a year and a half since they last tasted a defeat, with that loss coming against New Zealand back in July 2022.

The men from the Emerald Isle have really impressed at the World Cup as well racking up massive wins against minnows Romania (82-8) and an improved Tongan side (59-16) in their opening two fixtures. They then put in a grinding display against South Africa to claim a crucial 8-13 victory over the southern hemisphere outfit.

Scotland haven’t been as all-conquering as the Irish over the past year and a half but they are a solid side that are capable of producing the goods on their day, particularly when flyhalf Finn Russel is dominating.

The Scottish ten was unable to do this in their opening game against South Africa with the SA midfield closing down his outside options and killing his time and space. This is something the Irish midfield defence is likely to try and replicate this weekend.

The Scots bounced back well from the aforementioned 18-3 defeat to South Africa beating Tonga 45-17 and then Romania 84-0. They have struggled in recent games against the Irish, however, and are currently on a nine game losing streak against their Six Nations rivals, with their last victory over the Irish coming in Edinburgh back in 2017.

This is a rather intriguing game. The Scots know they need to claim a bonus point win or deny the Irish a bonus point to advance to the next round with South Africa and Ireland’s points differential superior to the Scots.

I think the game may open up in the second stanza as Scotland go chasing points which is why I’d be looking to have a crack on the Live In-Play total points overs market at half-time. My before the jump bet will be on the Scottish plus, however, as I think the handicap is a bit to high.