The Rugby League World Cup concludes on Saturday night as defending champions Australia will face England for the title. Can Australia make it a double in the Cricket and Rugby League against England this week? Read on for our best bets and predictions.
When: Saturday 02/12/2017 - 8:00pm (AEDT)
Where: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Australia Form Guide
The Kangaroos again cruised to victory in the semi-finals after a 54-6 win over Fiji. Valentine Holmes is having a great time on the wing with 11 tries in his last 2 matches. Australia has progressed through the World Cup without a loss. But England will be their toughest challenge thus far. The English are the only side to score first against them and the 18-4 result in the first match is the closest Australia winning margin.
Despite Holmes scoring 6 tries, Cameron Smith was the man of the match against Fiji and will be the key against England. He commands the middle of the field and his combination with Cronk/Slater is difficult to stop. Australia will go into the World Cup with an unchanged lineup. The forward pack is settled with Woods and Klemmer in the middle. While in the back-row Cordner, Gillett and McGuire will look to break the English defence early on. Billy Slater is at the back and Holmes/Gagai will look to cross the try-line once again.
England Form Guide
England is finally into the Rugby League World Cup after a 20-18 victory over Tonga. They were up 20-0 into the latter stages before Tonga scored 3 quick tries and almost rallied. So England will need to be much improved against Australia after the 60th minute or this could be another blowout. They last played in the World Cup final back in 1995 and lost to Australia at home 16-8.
Gareth Widdop was outstanding for England in the semi-final and his combination with Jermaine McGillvary will determine whether England can score enough points to beat Australia. McGillvary is England's top try scorer and will need to continue his form here. They'll also need the likes of James Graham and Sam Burgess to dominate the Australian forward pack. If they can win the forward battle, the outside backs will enjoy more space to challenge the Kangaroos defence.
In team news, they've lost Josh Hodgson at hooker in a big blow. Replacing him in the starting lineup will be James Roby. Chris Heighington will take his place on the bench.
Last 5 Meetings
Australia hasn't lost against England since 2006 and they’re 10-0 against them since that loss.
2017 - Australia 18-4
2016 - Australia 36-18
2014 - Australia 16-12
2013 - Australia 28-20
2011 - Australia 30-8
World Cup Final History
Australia has an impressive World Cup record having won 10 of 14 potential titles. They’ve also won the final in 7 of the last 8 World Cups. While for England, their last final victory came in 1972.
Prediction
In the betting, despite a total of 22 points in the last meeting, we can see a high scoring game here. Australia is in superb attacking form and the likes of Holmes, Gagai and Slater will be hard to stop near the try-line once again at Suncorp. England showed against Tonga that they'll struggle to contain a side in the last 20 minutes and that's a real concern against Australia. But England has covered the line (+18.5) in the last 4 meetings against Australia so we'll look at the over total points/Australia to win double at CrownBet. We can't back against Australia's form at the moment and they have easily beat the over total points themselves in both final matches so far. So back the Australia / Over 40.5 double at CrownBet. There's also value for anytime try-scorer at Sportsbet for Billy Slater ($2). He's scored 3 tries in Australia's last two matches.
TIP: H2H/Over Under Double: Australia / Over 40.5 - $2 at Ladbrokes
TIP: Anytime Tryscorer: Billy Slater - $2 at Sportsbet
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