International Rugby Preview – Saturday, September 7th at 2.00 pm
There is a big Rugby World Cup warm-up fixture from Dublin on Saturday. Ireland welcome Wales to the Aviva Stadium. The two met last weekend down in Cardiff with Ireland taking a win. They are favourites to win this encounter as well now back on home turf.
Ireland v Wales Rugby Odds*
Ireland 1/2
Wales 17/10
Draw 22/1
*(betting odds taken from bet365 on September 6th, 2019 at 4:02 pm)
Can Ireland do the double over Wales?
Ireland are expected to have a very strong starting line up in this one. They will be looking for more momentum ahead of the World Cup. This will be the last home game in charge for head coach Joel Schmidt who is leaving after the World Cup. Rory Best, who is retiring after the tournament will be leading out the side in his final home game for his country. Fly-half Johnny Sexton is getting a start and they have gotten Keith Earls, Robbie Henshaw and Cian Healy back to full fitness as well.
Ireland started their warm up matches with a heavy defeat against England, but then they scrapped to collect a win down in Cardiff last weekend. It was a 22-17 win that the Irish got, but they had been sitting comfortable at 15-3 up at the break. Jacob Stockdale touched down twice in the match for the Irish. Ireland are at 10/11 to cover a -6 handicap in the fixture*(betting odds taken from bet365 on September 6th, 2019 at 4:02 pm).
Can Wales produce a response against Ireland?
This is the final World Cup warm-up match for the Welsh. After their surprise home slip against Ireland last weekend, Warren Gatland’s men will be looking for a little bit of a lift. Rhys Patchell gets a start at fly-half this weekend after getting a try in Cardiff last weekend. Wales are looking as if they are going to be sending out an experienced starting line up as well.
They will probably push hard in this one to try and sharpen up. After opening their warm-ups with a win over England, Wales then lost against the Red Rose in another meeting during mid-August and then followed up with that loss against the Irish. So the preparations haven’t been quite where they were expected to be at. Gatland made sweeping changes from the side which lost against England to the one that was beaten by the Irish last weekend.
Predictions
Ireland were scrappy more than composed down in Cardiff last weekend and their big home loss against England in these warm-ups is probably going to be a big motivator for this one. This is their final game at home before the big tournament.
They can topple the Welsh again in what will probably be another relatively tight contest. The -6 handicap on the Irish looks about right to roll with at 10/11*(betting odds taken from bet365 on September 6th, 2019 at 4:02 pm).
