Ireland v Samoa Tip and Preview Rugby World Cup
Ireland v Samoa Preview Rugby World Cup
We were out of luck in the Wales v Fiji match as Semi Radradra failed to score. He did go very close in the corner at one stage, but it wasn’t to be. Typhoon Hagibis is forecast to hit Tokyo on Saturday and a couple of games have already been cancelled. The hugely important clash between Scotland and Japan is in the balance too. The only match that has survived on Saturday is the Ireland v Samoa clash. Ireland, yet again, have mostly underperformed in a World Cup and they come into this under a cloud. Check out our Ireland v Samoa tip and preview below…
11.45 am: Ireland v Samoa Tip and Preview
Ireland are under huge pressure to deliver a big performance here. It looked like they were back to their best v Scotland, but then along came Japan. They beat Russia 35-0 but it was a far from convincing display by Schmidt’s men. They have looked a bit too one dimensional at times and a reluctance to spread the ball out wide has counted against them.
Schmidt is taking zero chances with his team selection for this Samoa match and all the big guns start. Sexton will play at fly half and he is the man that makes Ireland tick. Murray also starts and those two are massively important players for Ireland. Larmour adds a bit of pace and guile at full back and the return of Robbie Henshaw at centre is a boost too.
Can Samoa Cause A Shock?
Samoa have a sole win vs Russia so far in this World Cup, but they pushed the Japanese all the way. They are no mugs and although they have nothing to play for, they will be well up for this match. Manu Samoa have some decent players to pick from and the backline is unchanged from the Japan game. Samoa caused plenty of problems for Japan in the scrum and the returning Mulipola and Paulo add more experience in that department.
Samoa lost both previous meetings with Ireland and realistically they look up against it here. However, they will be very encouraged by their showing against Japan and they could cause a few problems for an Irish team low on confidence. They key for them is to make a strong start as the longer they stay in the game, the more nervous Ireland will become.
Ireland v Samoa Tip
The bookies reckon this match is a foregone conclusion and Samoa are as big as 28/1. Ireland are a best price of 1/25 so you won’t get rich quick by backing them. The handicap market is worth looking at here as on a poor pitch this could be a low scoring game. Given that Ireland are not playing well, it could be worth chancing Samoa.
28 points is the general spread available from most bookmakers, but we think this could be closer than that. We like the look of the 5/4 about Samoa +24.5 points on offer from Betfred. They lost by 19 to Japan but that should have been 12 only for a poor decision to take a scrum late on. Ireland will likely win and get the bonus point they need, but Samoa are capable of keeping it respectable. Samoa +24.5 points at 5/4 is our tip.
