How much will England win by in 2015 Rugby World Cup opener?

Who: England vs. Fiji
When: Saturday, September 19, 5:00am
Where: Twickenham, London, England

THE Rugby World Cup is here and host-nation England kick things off when they play Fiji on Saturday morning.

After years of preparation, both teams will be looking to get their tournament off to a winning start, but one side is heavily favoured with bookmakers and the other is being given no chance.

As expected, 2003 World Cup champions England are the overwhelming favourites to beat Fiji at Crownbet.com.au, despite the island nation coming into the World Cup on a winning streak.

There are over 40 markets for punters to bet on, so strap in for a busy month of betting and enjoy the biggest rugby tournament of the year.

England vs. Fiji betting markets

England – $1.02
Fiji – $15

There is very little value in betting England in the head-to-head markets, and even multi-bet punters won’t be adding the $1.02 to their selections.

Punters looking for value will be attracted to the $15 for Fiji, but that’s an unrealistic chance of winning, so the points spread markets will be where most punters flock to.

England (-26.5) – $1.95
Fiji (+26.5) – $1.86

The betting suggests most punters are liking the look of Fiji +26.5, but England have said they will play their best side to open the tournament. It’s tough to gauge whether or not England will come out firing, but you would expect a solid performance in front of their home crowd.

Fiji have the knack of starting their games off well before tiring late in the game. Fiji are currently +10 ($1.91 at Sportsbet) for the half-time points start market which doesn’t look great on face value, but the bookmakers are expecting a similar game to be played.

With the halftime line only sitting at 10, bookies are expecting Fiji to keep it close before England pulls away late. It’s not easy to take an interior side like Fiji at only +10 for 40 minutes of rugby, but consider this option to kick the tournament off.

The winning margin market offers exotic punters some good value. England are odds-on to win the game and they should, so taking them on the winning margin option is a good way to find some niche value.

England winning margin market:

England 1-5 – $15
England 6-10 – $10
England 11-15 – $8.50
England 16-20 – $8
England 21-25 – $7.50
England 26-30 – $7.50
England 31-35 – $8
England 36-40 – $9
England 41-45 – $11
England 46-50 – $13
England 51-55 – $17
England 56-60 – $26
England 61-65 – $36
England more than 65 – $26

England vs. Fiji team lists and first tryscorer odds

Former NRL star Sam Burgess plays his first Rugby World Cup game for England as is currently paying $15 to crash over the line first.

Try scoring threats Jonny May and Anthony Watson are the two well-favoured players in the market for England with Canterbury Crusader Nemami Nadolo on the first line of betting for the Fijians.

England first try-scorer market:

Jonny May – $7
Anthony Watson – $7.50
Johnathan Joseph – $9.50
Mike Brown – $11
Ben Morgan – $12
Brad Barritt – $12
Sam Burgess – $15
Ben Youngs – $15 at Sportsbet.com.au
Billy Vunipola – $15
Chris Robshaw – $17
George Ford – $19
Richard Wigglesworth – $19
Mako Vunipola – $19
Tom Youngs – $21
Owen Farrell – $21
Tom Wood – $21
Joe Launchbury – $26

All England players quoted at Sportsbet.com.au*

Fiji first tryscorer odds:

Asaeli Tikoirotuma – $15
Nemani Nadolo -$15
Waisea Nayacalevu – $19
Niko Matawalu – $23
Gaby Goneva – $23
Metuisela Talebula – $23
Gabriele Lovobalavu – $36
Josh Matavesi – $36
N Ranuku – $41
Masi Matadigo – $51
Ben Volavola – $51
Akapusi Qera – $71

Morgan ready to repay selectors against Fiji

England number eight Ben Morgan is keen to repay the faith selectors have put in him with a good performance against Fiji this Saturday morning.

Morgan is returning from a broken leg last month, but has been selected in front of Billy Vunipola. He is acknowledging the support of his head coach and management team.

“It’s a great amount of faith taken by them, and obviously I’m grateful for that,” Morgan said.

“But it’s something that I hope I can repay back straight away.

“I’ve not really allowed myself to doubt,” he continued. “I’ve been lucky with the medical team that I have – Gloucester and here – they’ve been superb, and worked really hard from the get-go.

“I just tried to positive throughout the whole experience, and just allowed myself to say: ‘Right, if I make it I make it, if I don’t I don’t; but I know I’ve tried my hardest.'”

Having not played for months there are some doubts Morgan will be ready to go, but Morgan has no doubts.

“I feel comfortable, I feel happy,” Morgan said.

“I’m just looking forward to getting stuck in to the next game. We train at such a high intensity – I know there is no experience like a game – but the intensities we are training at are replicating that.”

Morgan is currently $2.88 at CrownBet.com.au to score a try at anytime against Fiji.