Australia vs Uruguay
Saturday, 3.15pm (AEST)
Australia will continue their Rugby World Cup campaign this Saturday as they face off against Uruguay! We have a full preview and tips for the Pool D clash below.
Australia
The Wallabies World Cup campaign hasn’t been a great one so far after two inconsistent performances. That started against Fiji as the Aussies fell behind. Luckily, the Fijians tired in the second half and Australia took full advantage in the 39-21 victory. Game 2 against Wales saw a close battle where the Wallabies will rue their sloppy first half. Wales hit the lead early at 10-0 and extended their lead before half-time 13 unanswered points. The second half was all about the Wallabies as they reduced the margin to a single point with 13 minutes. But Wales held strong and will likely finish atop Pool D. So the Wallabies will need a bonus-point victory here and hope Wales slip up. Otherwise, they’re liking going to finish 2nd in the Pool and will probably have to play England in the quarters. With Australia likely to easily smash Uruguay, Michael Cheika has made a few team changes. Marika Koroibete will sit this one out and that gives a test cap to Jordan Petaia. David Pocock moves to the bench and Christian Lealiifano is back to replace Bernard Foley.
Uruguay
Uruguay stunned Fiji in their first World Cup game, winning a close contest 30-27. But their chances of an unlikely Quarters berth ended with a 33-7 loss against Georgia. Despite the defeat, this matchup against Australia is a great chance to gain experience and they’ll hopefully put up more of a fight compared to their last effort. They’ll need to focus on their defence and getting an early jump on the usually slow to start Wallabies. The South Americans will be without Facundo Gattas after his dangerous tackle earned a 3 match ban and an end to his tournament. They also miss prop Mateo Sanguinetti with an injury.
Prediction
There’s not much doubt about the result in this clash with Australia at unbackable odds of $1. So we’re looking at the points total and does seem a bit high. The Wallabies haven’t started well in both games thus far and hopefully, Uruguay put up the same effort that saw them beat Fiji. Especially defensively, where the Wallabies will look to dominate field position up the middle of the park and then spread it wide. So if Uruguay can build some pressure on the Wallabies, they’ve shown 2 sloppy performances in the World Cup thus far. In the end, we like the Under as there’s one been one game in the tournament that’s exceeded 65.5 points.
Total Points - Under 65.5
$1.87
