Rugby World Cup 2015- Australia v. Scotland first try scorer tips

Who: Australia vs. Scotland
When: Monday, October 19, 2:00am
Where: Twickenham, London, England

THE final quarterfinal of the 2015 Rugby World Cup sees the high-flying Australian Wallabies take on Scotland at Twickenham on Monday morning.

The Wallabies are riding high after winning all four games this tournament, but their recent history with Scotland should have them a touch nervous heading into Monday’s do-or-die clash.

Australia have looked good so far in recording wins over Fiji, Uruguay, England and Wales, but beating Scotland hasn’t been all too easy of late. The Wallabies were winners by 21-15 the last time they met, but Scotland edged out a pair of victories the previous two.

In 2009, Scotland caused the upset by beating Australia 9-8 at Murrayfield, and they repeated the dose three years later in Newcastle where they came away with another closely fought 9-6 win.

Overall, Australia do have the 19-9 win advantage over the Scottish and those two recent losses didn’t come in World Cup’s, so there is still plenty to like about the Aussies in this match.

Australia vs. Scotland Rugby World Cup betting

Australia are the very warm favourites with bookmakers. It’s a little disheartening for the Scotland fans to think they are double-digit underdogs for a quarterfinal they deserve to be playing, but the Southern Hemisphere sides are playing that much better than everyone else at the moment.

Australia – $1.08 (-16.5)
Scotland – $8.50 (+16.5)

Regarding their recent history, the +16.5 for Scotland should be considered the bet to make, but Australia are looking the form team of the tournament.

After an easy 28-13 win over Fiji to kick off the World Cup, Australia then handled Uruguay by only giving up one penalty goal in 80 minutes.

The game of the tournament followed as Australia and England met which would decide what team was sent packing from the World Cup. The game ended up being a no contest as Australia romped home with a dominating 33-13 win which sent host-nation England back to the drawing board.

The Wallabies followed that win with another stellar performance, beating Wales (who also defeated England) 15-6 in a gritty defensive display.

Scotland suffered only one loss in pool play, coming to a resurgent South Africa 16-34 at Newcastle. The Scots bounced back with a hard-fought 36-33 with over Samoa, but if they are to compete with the Australians, they will have to become better defensively.

In four World Cup games to date, Scotland have given up totals of 10, 16, 34 and 33. That defensive display, especially the two most recent games, simply won’t cut it for Scotland if they want to win the game.

The news for Scotland didn’t get better during the week as both Israel Folau and Matt Giteau for Australia pulled up well after their injury scares. Folau will have a light week in training, but he is well favoured to score the first try of the game at $8 with Sportsbet.

Our verdict:

There’s no two ways about it – Australia should win this game and win it with ease. But, World Cup’s are all about throwing in the odd upset and whilst we don’t think Scotland can win, they could well cover the +16.5.

Scotland need to keep the game tight. They should try and slow the pace of the game down, kick penalties, and force Australia into making mistakes.

The Wallabies, when put under pressure, resort to kicking a lot of high ball which will play into Scotland’s hands so we like the look of Scotland +16.5 at CrownBet.com.au.

Australia vs. Scotland first try scorer market odds

Odds courtesy of Sportsbet.com.au*

Australia team lineup:

Adam Ashley-Cooper – $7.50
Israel Folau – $8
Rob Horne – $8.50
Tevita Kuridrani – $11 at Sportsbet.com.au
David Pocock – $11
Matt Giteau – $12
Bernard Foley – $19
Michael Hooper – $19
Will Genia – $19
Scott Fardy – $23
Dean Mumm – $26
Stephen Moore – $34
Kane Douglas – $41
Sekope Kepu – $46
Scott Sio – $6

Scotland team lineup:

Tommy Seymour – $15
Sean Maitland – $15
Stuart Hogg – $19
David Denton – $23
Greig Laidlaw – $26
Mark Bennett – $26
John Hardie – $26
Ryan Wilson – $31
Willem Nel – $34
Matt Scott – $34
Finn Russell – $34
Fraser Brown – $46
Richie Gray – $56
Tim Swinson – $67
Alasdair Dickinson – $91

Wallabies nursing their injured stars

The Wallabies were worried about the injuries to both David Pocock and Israel Folau, but Folau has since passed a fitness test despite not feeling 100 per cent fit heading into their game against Scotland.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika isn’t worried about Pocock who left Wales game with an injured calf.

“David’s got a bit of a bang on his calf,” Cheika said. “It doesn’t seem too bad.

“He seems OK in the dressing room. Israel, his ankle got a bit weary after last week – [it’s the] same injury.”

Folau was forced to stay on the field against Wales as Cheika has used all his back reserves.

“We did want to bring him off, in a perfect world we would’ve brought him off with maybe 10 or 20 minutes to go because he hadn’t trained all week,” Cheika said.

“But we couldn’t because of a few things that happened around us.

“He got through the game but the first signs are pretty much the same as last week.”

It looks as though the injured Wallaby players will come through their ailments in full health. Only Israel Folau has a cloud hanging over his head, but with the game being played on Monday morning, it has given the star winger more time to recover.