England – Tonga

England Tonga rugby world cup betting preview

England will face Tonga on Sunday afternoon (European time) in the 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool C, which also features France, Argentina and USA.

Since the 2015 World Cup England has been excellent under Eddie Jones, cementing its status as the second best Nation in World Rugby. They had a blip early in 2018, when they finished 5th in the Six Nations, but bounced back strong late last year, and this year as well. Although England didn`t win the 2019 Six Nations (mostly due to a difficult schedule), the team has played great rugby, and pre World Cup warm ups have been great – a split with Wales, a 57-15 win vs Ireland (!!!) and a 37-0 win vs Italy.

Tonga enters the World Cup in disastrous form. Something broke for the Tongans since November last year, when they lost by 50 points to Wales and by 11 to Georgia in the Autumn friendlies. Since then, Tonga has been horrible. This season they were handily beaten by Samoa and Japan in the Pacific Nations Cup, only managing an unimpressive win against Canada, before losing a test to Fiji. That was not even the worst of it, as two weeks ago Tonga lost a pre World Cup test against New Zealand 7-92!! It was such a mismatch, that New Zealand actually decided to play the last 15 minutes with only 14 men.

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Team news & lineups:

England surprised a few people by fielding an extremely strong for this game, one of the strongest they can field.

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler

Tonga: 15 David Halaifonua, 14 Atieli Pakalani, 13 Siale Piutau (c), 12 Cooper Vuna, 11 Viliami Lolohea, 10 Kurt Morath, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Zane Kapeli, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Halaleva Fifita, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Sosefo Sakalia, 1 Siegfried Fisiihoi

England fielding such a strong lineup here says something about their focus and their intentions. They have picked a more lightweight side which should boost a ton of speed and pace, and that should work well against Tonga – a team which would prefer a physical battle to an open game of rugby.

Although Tonga is a very talented side with plenty of real quality individuals, their results over the past year have been horrendous. The team is so disjointed and disorganized, it`s hard to see anything other than a last place finish for them in this group, behind USA. Their defense has been catastrophic this year, even Canada managing to put 23 points past them.

With defeats by 50 points (vs Wales) and 85 points (vs New Zealand) over the past year, you have to feel Tonga could be in for a 50+ point beating against an exceptional English side which seems to have hit top form at the right time.

Look for England’s potent offense, with its speed and pace, to wreak havoc between Tonga’s vulnerable defensive lines, and this should be a try fest here. My tip will be England to cover the 44,5 point handicap. Prediction: England – Tonga 64 – 8.

Pick: England -44,5
Odds: 2.00 @ Unibet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 8
Event date: 22 September

About Rostick

Born in '88. Running betting tips websites since 2007. Launched Betdistrict in 2013. Worked as a bookie for a year to spy on the other side. Rugby Union and NBA expert. Editor info & statistics.

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