Rugby League is one bruising sport to play and it is very exciting to watch. The Rugby League World Cup is currently underway, being jointly hosted by Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and features 14 sides from around the globe. After two games the usual suspects are rising to the top of their respective groups, but the real action starts when the quarter finals get underway on 17th November.
Here we bring you our Rugby League World Cup betting tips and predictions as we assess the relevant merits of the leading sides and answer the simple question: can anyone stop Australia romping to their 11th World Cup win?
Quarter Finals Will Kickstart Tournament
Many have questioned the value of having a group stage to the Rugby League World Cup given that three of the four sides in both Group A and B will progress to the quarter finals (plus the top side from Groups C and D). But Lebanon have answered the critics with their shock win over France in Group A, putting the side from the Middle East in with a real chance of making the quarters.
Australia, New Zealand and Tonga have already qualified for the last 16, and those three feature towards the top of the outright winner betting. As the odds stand, Australia are the massive odds-on favourites to go all the way at best betting odds of 1/5 with Paddy Power. They are followed in the betting by New Zealand at 10/1 with Betway, England – who are yet to secure their place in the quarters at the time of writing – at 12/1 with 10Bet and then Tonga at 20/1 with Unibet.
With Fiji the next best chance according to the bookies at 80/1 and the rest of the sides being priced at 200/1 (Papua New Guinea) to 5000/1 (Scotland), the winner of this year’s World Cup is bound to come from the top four in the betting.
Can anyone stop Australia?
Mal Meninga’s Australia side are, frankly, awesome to behold. Powerful, fast, skilful and clinical, they are simply too hot for the other sides to handle at the moment. England – who are their strongest opponents in Group A – lost out 18-4 in their opening World Cup match. Though Wayne Bennett’s men put up a decent fight of things, ultimately they just couldn’t get behind the stout Aussie defence, and they couldn’t withstand the onslaughts they faced at the other end.
New Zealand could be the only side to stand a chance of getting in Australia’s way in this tournament. They beat Samoa 38-8 in their opener and then hammered Scotland 74-6. We’ll learn a lot from their crunch match with Tonga at the weekend, but if David Kidwell can guide his side through that one with a victory, they should have a relatively easy passage to the final (probably meeting, and beating, England in the semis).
Australia v New Zealand final?
It would be no surprise to anyone if two of the co-hosts, Australia and New Zealand, meet in the final on 2nd December. A brief glance at our odds comparison for the outright winner market of the Rugby League World Cup would suggest this is the most likely line-up for the final. And though the Aussies are already the odds-on favourites to win the tournament, there might actually be some value in backing New Zealand at this stage, crucially before their match against Tonga.
If the Kiwi’s beat Tonga, their outright odds will be slashed, so our betting tip here is to back NZ to make the final at very decent odds of 11/10 with Paddy Power. England might well fancy their chances against New Zealand in a possible semi final meeting, but we think the Kiwis would get the better of that encounter. Some might also see some betting value in taking the current odds of 10/1 with Betway for New Zealand to go all the way and win the World Cup. For us though, it’s all about the Kangaroos.
The topped rank side in the world, Australia have just the right blend to put any side to the sword. When they faced New Zealand back in May they hammered them 30-12 in Canberra. A year ago they faced them at Anfield in England and again they won handsomely, this time 34-8. In fact you have to go back to May 2015 for the last time the Kiwis got the better of Australia.
For these reasons we simply can’t oppose the favourites and we predict they’ll win with relative ease. So back them now before their odds get even shorter, and be sure to check all the best options and odds on our odds comparison service.