One of the biggest clashes of the Rugby World Cup pool stages takes place on Saturday morning when Australia take on Ireland at Eden Park in Auckland. The Wallabies start as odds on favourites for the Pool C encounter at 1/5 with PaddyPower, while the Irish are priced 4/1 as they look to improve on a disappointing opening match.
It doesn't get much tougher for Ireland than a match against the side ranked number two in the world and who won the Tri Nations just last month as they pipped World Cup favourites New Zealand 25-20 in the final match of the tournament.
The Wallabies opened their World Cup campaign with a less than convincing opening half against Italy, before coming through to win by an impressive scoreline of 32-6. James O'Connor came on as a sub at half-time that day and he is restored to the starting lineup after his suspension for indiscipline.
The return of the 21-year-old could spell danger for Ireland as he made a try scoring impression against the Italians and he is 8/1 favourite to score the first try on Saturday. He replaces injured winger Digby Ioane, who fractured his thumb last weekend.
Ireland endured a similar struggle in their opening Pool C match as they laboured to a 22-10 win over the little fancied USA. There was a host of handling errors throughout the match and coach Declan Kidney has responded by making four changes to the side for this weekend's match - Eoin Reddan, Sean O'Brien, Rob Kearney and Cian Healy all come in.
The biggest concern will the return of Kearney, who has played only 140 minutes of rugby since last autumn, and his fitness will be a huge concern.
The fitness of Tommy Bowe is under no doubt though and the Ospreys winger has been in fine fettle for the national side and he weighed in with two tries against USA, with PaddyPower.com offering a tempting 12/1 for Bowe to be first try scorer this weekend.
Bowe's form has been in stark contrast to the fortunes of Ireland in recent matches as that win against USA was their first in five matches. Admittedly the four defeats leading into the competition were all by narrow margins and they often save their best for the Wallabies.
The last three matches between the two have been won by a margin of eight points or less and we fancy look of Australia to win by a margin of 6-10 points at odds of 7/2 this time.
Meanwhile, Ireland are generously positioned in the handicap market as PaddyPower give them a +11 points advantage and the odds of 11/10 look worth taking advantage of. However, Australia have never lost to Ireland in four World Cup matches and they should come through, albeit in a closely fought match.
Australia v Ireland Tips
Tip 1: James O'Connor to be first try scorer @ 8/1 with PaddyPower.com
Tip 2: Ireland to win with a handicap advantage of +11 points @ 11/10 with PaddyPower.com
Tip 3: Australia to win the match by 6-10 points @ 7/2 with PaddyPower.com
Match Odds
1/5 Australia
4/1 Ireland
25/1 Draw
Handicap Odds
10/11 Australia -11 points
11/10 Ireland +11 points
25/1 Draw
First Try Scorer Odds
8/1 James O'Connor
9/1 Drew Mitchell
10/1 Adam Ashley-Cooper
12/1 Kurtley Beale
12/1 Tommy Bowe
14/1 Andrew Trimble
14/1 Keith Earls
16/1 BAR
Winning Margin Odds
5/1 Australia 1-5 points
7/2 Australia 6-10 points
9/2 Australia 11-15 points
6/1 Australia 16-20 points
8/1 Ireland 1-5 points
13/1 Ireland 6-10 points
25/1 Ireland 11-15 points
55/1 Ireland 16-20 points
The odds for this match have been kindly provided by PaddyPower.com, who will be operating a comprehensive betting service throughout the 2011 RWC
Posted: Thursday, 15th September 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: rugby world cup, australia, ireland, tommy bowe, paddypower,
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