Scotland v Samoa betting tips, odds, predictions – RWC’19 match-day 10

Welcome to our betting preview of match 18 of the Rugby World Cup between Scotland and Samoa at Kobe Misaki Stadium on September 30.

And with Japan’s shock win over Ireland on Saturday, all of a sudden this match takes on extra significance; a surprise loss to Scotland and their campaign is as good as done.

There is a flavour of upsets in the air now at this World Cup, with Japan’s success and also Uruguay’s win over Fiji last week.

So can there be another here?

Certainly Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, still smarting from his team’s dismal showing against Ireland, is taking nothing for granted.

Townsend told Scottish Rugby.”Samoa are a team capable of scoring points from anywhere on the field. They play an ambitious brand of rugby and their team is full of skilful and powerful players.

“The reality is we now have to win our next three games to make it out of our pool, so the knockout stages for us begin this Monday night.”

Samoa for their part are reeling from the loss of centre Rey Lee-lo and hooker Motu Matu’u, both banned for three matches for high tackles in the win over Russia. But they do regain captain and loose forward Jack Lam.

Scrum-half Dwayne Polataivao failed a head injury assessment in game against Russia and could not be considered for the Scotland match. Melani Matavao moves into the starting side.

Check out our team previews to get the latest form, our tips for leading try-scorer from each team and where we think they will finish in the tournament.

Scotland
Samoa

Here are our free picks, odds and predictions for Scotland v Samoa at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

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Match 18: Pool A – Scotland v Samoa

Kick-off: 7.15pm local time (GMT +9)
Venue: Kobe Misaki Stadium
Previous World Cup 2019 matches:
Scotland:
Ireland 27 (Rory Best, Andrew Conway, Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan tries; Conor Murray, Jonathan Sexton cons, Jack Carty pen) d Scotland 3 (Greig Laidlaw pen). Referee: Wayne Barnes.
Samoa:
Samoa 34 (Ed Fidow 2, Alapati Leiua 2, Afaesetiti Amosa, Reynold Lee-Lo tries; Tusi Pisi 2 cons) d Russia 9 (Yuri Kushnarev 2 pens, drop goal). Referee: Romain Poite.

Head to head odds: Scotland $1.10, Samoa $6.80
Handicap line odds: Scotland (-17.5 points) $1.91, Samoa (-17.5 points) $1.91
Scotland v Samoa prediction: With so much at stake we expect a brutal encounter here. Scotland threw the ball around against Ireland but struggled to make any inroads. They need to find attacking for and fast. They must win this match and most likely also beat Japan to make it through to the quarters.

Best bets for Scotland v Samoa RWC2019 match

Samoa +17.5 points at $1.91

Before the tournament started we would have been all over this option, although with the couple of suspensions and the loss of the first-choice half-back we fear the Samoans may lack a little cohesion. Still, Scotland were no great shakes in their first match so we are happy to be on the Pacific Islanders here with the start. We even give them a chance of scoring a famous win and thrusting their name into contention to make it past the pool stage.

Alapati Leiua to score a try

The Samoa outside-back did the right thing and got on the scorecard as we predicted against Russia. He is a dangerous customer and we will be on him to score again. The odds may even be a little better than the $2.50 we secured against Russia.

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