France – Argentina

France Argentina Rugby World Cup betting preview

France and Argentina will square off on Saturday in the opening game of Pool C at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Pool C is the group of death and also features England, USA and Tonga, so a win here is already crucial for both France and Argentina. The result is likely to decide the team that will qualify alongside England.

France has mostly been underwhelming in the past few years, unable to return to a dominant level in Europe. Despite some good wins and performances here and there, the French finished Top 3 in the Six Nations just once in the last 8 years (ended up fourth this season). Nevertheless, France does look pretty good coming into this World Cup. They have looked pretty good in their pre-tournament friendlies, claiming two dominant wins over Scotland and Italy, and losing a nailbiter in Scotland. The squad does have youth and explosion, but consistency clearly remains a problem for the mercurial Les Bleus.

It has been a very good season for Argentinian rugby so far. Most of all, the club franchise Jaguares, which provides the vast majority of players for the National Team, managed to reach the Super Rugby Final during the Summer – an excellent performance. The National Team built on that with a couple of very good performances in the Rugby Championship, losing (very) close games to New Zealand and Australia, before fatigue finally got them in the last game, an ugly 33 point home loss to South Africa. After a bit of rest, they looked rejuvenated in the pre World Cup friendlies, losing by 6 points to South Africa and handing a 74 point drubbing to an Australian club side.

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Team news & lineups:

Both sides will field very strong lineups here, as it was obviously expected.

France: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Virimi Vakatawa, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot

Argentina: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro

The only slightly relevant H2H matches between the two nations took place in 2016, the last time they met, when the Pumas and Les Bleus split a two game series in Tucuman.

Argentina is in clear progress since Mario Ledesma took over last year, not that they weren`t a powerhouse before that as well. The team managed to claim two wins in the 2018 Rugby Championship (was inches away from getting three), and then built on that this year, as mentioned above. They have given all kinds of scares to New Zealand, Australia or South Africa, so they will fancy their chances of doing the same against France.

The bookies and the general public tend to give an edge to France here, but it wouldn`t be the first time when the French are given too much respect – and usually they fail to deliver. Indeed, France looked good in preparation for the World Cup, but Argentina did too, and the Pumas have done enough in the last few years to deserve favorite status over France.

This should be a close game, but Argentina is hands down the much more consistent side, and should have the better shot to edge this. I`m going to trust them here, they routinely give scares to the best teams in the world every year in the Rugby Championship, and sometimes win – while France has barely beaten anybody aside from Italy and Scotland in the Six Nations for years. A few good moments in pre World Cup preparation games are not enough to make them favorites in this clash.

Look for a high level clash, with Argentina’s scrum and superior chemistry and consistency proving decisive in the end. Sanchez is also an automatic goal kick taker for the Pumas, so his steady boot could prove key in a game like this one.

My tip will be Argentina to win. A safer bet would be the +1,5 handicap on the Pumas, but I`d rather take slightly more risk for better value. When all is said and done, a fair argument can be made that Argentina is simply the better team, and I believe that will be proved in this encounter. Prediction: France – Argentina 21 – 25.

Pick: Argentina
Odds: 2.23 @ 1xBet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 9.84
Event date: 21 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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