Italy World Cup Rugby betting preview

Can Italy defy the betting and move out of the group stages of the Rugby World Cup in Japan

Italy are rated $1001 chances of winning the Rugby World Cup and they are a healthy $251 just to win their group.

Of course, they were unlucky enough to be drawn in Group B alongside the two favoured teams for this tournament, New Zealand and South Africa.
The good news for Italy is that the way the drawn has come up, they should be 2-0 and leading the group …. before they get to play the All Blacks and Springboks.

We expect them to comfortably beat Namibia and Canada before they tackle the big fish.

ALSO READ:

Where Italy will finish in the 2019 Rugby World Cup

WGL prediction: Eliminated in group stage. The Azzurri have never made it out of the group stage in the eight previous World Cups and that is extremely unlikely to change here given they would most likely need to upset NZ or South Africa to advance..

Previous best World Cup result: Group stages.

Italy’s remaining pre-World Cup fixtures

August 30: France v Italy, Stade de France, Paris
September 6: England v Italy, St James Park, Newcastle, England

Italy’s Rugby World Cup draw

Match 5: Italy v Namibia, Sunday, Sep 22, Pool B, Hanazono Rugby Stadium
Match 11: Italy v Canada, Thursday, Sep 26, Pool B, Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium
Match 23: South Africa v Italy, Friday, Oct 4, Pool B, Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa
Match 34: New Zealand v Italy, Saturday, Oct 12, Pool B, City of Toyota Stadium

Italy’s most recent results

February 2: Scotland 33 d Italy 20, Six Nations, Murrayfield, Scotland
February 9: Wales 26 d Italy 15, Six Nations, Rome
February 24: Ireland 26 d Italy 16, Six Nations, Rome
March 9: England 57 d Italy 14, Six Nations, Twickenham, London
March 16: France 25 d Italy 14, Six Nations, Rome
August 10: Ireland 29 d Italy 10, Lansdowne Road, Dublin
August 17: Italy 85 d Russia 15, Stadio Riviera delle Palme, San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy

Italy’s record against Pool B rivals

New Zealand: Played 14: won 0, lost 14. Points for: 131, Points against: 820
South Africa: Played 14: won 1, lost 13. Points for: 171, Points against: 652
Canada: Played 9: won 7, lost 2. Points for: 246, Points against: 128
Namibia: Played 3: won 1, lost 2. Points for: 75, Points against: 74

Italy squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup

Coach: Conor O’Shea

Forwards: Simone Ferrari, Andrea Lovotti, Tiziano Pasquali, Nicola Quaglio, Marco Riccioni, Federico Zani, Luca Bigi, Oliviero Fabiani, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Dean Budd, Federico Ruzza, David Sisi, Alessandro Zanni, Maxime Mbanda, Sebastian Negri, Sergio Parisse, Jake Polledri, Abraham Steyn.

Backs: Callum Braley, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tito Tebaldi, Tommaso Allan, Carlo Canna, Tommaso Benvenuti, Michele Campagnaro, Luca Morisi, Mattia Bellini, Giulio Bisegni, Jayden Hayward, Matteo Minozzi, Edoardo Padovani.

Leading try-scorer prediction for Italy

Matteo Minozzi: While we don’t expect the Italian outside-back to contend for the leading try-scorer of the tournament, he is certainly one to watch. Minozzi burst on to the scent at the 2018 Six Nations with four tries in only five matches before he suffered a ruptured ACL playing in Italy. Well, he’s back and ready to go. Hopefully the injury has not robbed him of his pace and flair. He could well be one to back as a try-scorer in individual matches for the Italians.

Italy predictions – can the Azzurri buck the trend?

Italy have come a long way since their early years as Six Nations easybeats. They still sit at the bottom of the competition but they are at least now always competitive even in every match and they have claimed some big scalps over the years, including that of the Springboks in 2016. Unfortunately, we can’t see that happening again at RWC’19 in Japan.

Relevant news

Leave a Reply