Sports Blog 24/09/2015: Rugby World Cup Preview – England vs Wales, Saturday 26th September 2015

With Australia winning their opener against Fiji, England and Wales face each other on Saturday in what is arguably the first of 3 potentially decisive Pool A matches.

Both teams had an ideal start to the tournament, winning their opening games against Fiji and Uruguay respectively, with a bonus point each for scoring 4 or more tries. England, at an Outright Index spread of 54-57 and odds on favourite to win Pool A at 4/5, faced the tougher challenge in their game against the island nation; ranked 9th in the world Fiji posed a tricky task for Stuart Lancaster’s squad, one that the side eventually navigated without too much difficulty.

Not that they made things easy for themselves. England had to wait until the final 20 minutes (ish) to really open up the gap between them and the Fijians, scoring 17 of their 35 points in the last quarter of the game. They were also lucky that mis-kicks from Nemani Nadolo and Ben Volavola left Fiji further behind than they could (should?) have been during the tense middle period of the match.



England also suffered a frustrating injury to Jonathan Joseph; not one that rules him out for the whole tournament (like Yoann Huget) but one that nevertheless will see him miss Saturday’s battle against Wales. George Ford will also be absent, at least for the start of the game, with Lancaster controversially dropping the 22 year old in favour of Owen Farrell, who’s kicking was slightly more consistent than Ford’s in the opening game.

Wales got off to an even better start against tournament newbies Uruguay. Cory Allen was the undoubted star, scoring 3 out of Wales’ 8 tries, the highest tally for a player at this point in the competition; yet heartbreakingly the centre has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to a hamstring injury. Rhys Priestland also impressed, scoring 7 out of his 8 conversions to help Wales to a deserved 54-9 victory over the South American side.

However, with Allen the latest in a string of injuries, and the Aussies impressive against Fiji, Wales face an uphill battle to get out of Pool A. The difficulty they face is reflected in their Outright Index spread, at 21-24, and fixed odds, at 40/1, both low for a team currently ranked 4th in the world; they also sit behind Australia and England on the Pool A Index, at 23-26 to the Aussies’ 33-36 and the hosts’ 37-40.

England memorably beat Wales in Cardiff 21-16 in the opening game of 2015 Six Nations, and a result like that on Saturday will put the hosts on track for a spot in the quarter-finals. It is sure to be a tough game, but a home advantage for England and the injury woes for Wales has left our Spreadex traders favouring the Red and Whites, offering an England/Wales Supremacy spread of 7.5-9.5.