Odds to Win 2011 Rugby World Cup

With the Rugby World Cup only 6 months away and the qualifying complete, it’s time to take an early look at odds to win the pools and the tournament.

The World Cup is set to kick off in New Zealand on September 9th. Early indications are that the recent earthquake tragedy in Christchurch will not affect the event the spectacle and the RWC 2011 will proceed with all matches will take place in New Zealand.

If you are looking to wager on 2011 Rugby World Cup odds, be sure not to limit yourself to just one book. Take the time to line shop as the gap in early odds at different books leave lots of rooms for potential profits.

For example odds atSportsbook have New Zealand, the World Cup favorites at 10/11 while Sportsbook has the line set at 4/5. If you wager $100 on the All-Blacks and New Zealand wins you profit $10.90 more at Sportsbook.

Below is a breakdown of the best rugby World Cup odds for particular teams to win at 3 recommended books.

Early Rugby World Cup Odds to Win as at Feb 25, 2011:

	Sportsbook	Sportsbook	SportsInteraction
New Zealand	10/11	5/6	4/5
South Africa	9/2	11/2	5/1
Australia	9/2	4/1	7/2
France	9/1	10/1	10/1
England	9/1	8/1	10/1
Argentina	40/1	66/1	66/1
Ireland	20/1	33/1	25/1
Wales	20/1	33/1	33/1
Scotland	50/1	66/1	80/1
Italy	250/1	250/1	300/1
The Field (Any Other Country)	40/1	> 250/1	> 75/1

Interesting Pool Games

With Pool B the leading candidate as the “Pool of Death,” it’s hard to envision any underdogs being victorious in the pool games. Despite this, there are a few interesting early matchups to look forward to.

Pool B: Argentina v Scotland

This Pool B match will determine which of the larger rugby nations will be missing out on the Quarter Finals along-side Italy. Argentina is not as strong a team as they were in 2007. With two losses to Scotland in 2010, a 41-13 win against France last June with an undermanned squad proves they can still perform with the top teams.

With a young squad, Scotland has shown future potential, but their recent performances against France and Wales in the 2011 Six Nations demonstrate they are likely to draw the “short straw” in September. The inconsistency of Scotland, and the questionable kicking game of Scottish fly half Dan Parks could very well see Argentina, 3rd place in 2007 make another quarterfinal birth in 2011.

Pool A: Tonga v Canada

While Canada lacks the strength in depth of the bigger and more traditional rugby playing nations, they defeated Tonga 24 – 7 in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. With professional veterans including Matt Evans, Kevin Tkachuk and reliable goal kicker James Pritchard, Canada will put up a good effort against Tonga, but will get their only tournament win later against Japan.

Pool D: Fiji v Samoa

The odds to win Pool D are identical at most Sportsbooks (Sportsbook) for these two teams. Fiji’s ability to compete in the 15 aside game is growing with every year and their victory over Wales 38-34 was the highlight of the pool games in 2007. Samoa has historically had the edge over Fiji in the forward pack and that should see them narrow winners over Fiji in what will be an exciting game.

Full Early Odds Shark 2011 Rugby World Cup Bracket and Picks (in Bold)
Get all the 2011 Rugby World Cup Odds to win Pools at Sportsbook

POOL A		POOL B
Fri Sept 9	New Zealand v Tonga	Sat Sept 10	Scotland v Romania
Sat Sept 10	France v Japan	Sat Sept 10	Argentina v England
Wed Sept 14	Tonga v Canada	Wed Sept 14	Scotland v Georgia
Fri Sept 16	New Zealand v Japan	Sat Sept 17	Argentina v Romania
Sun Sept 18	France v Canada	Sun Sept 18	England v Georgia
Wed Sept 21	Tonga v Japan	Sat Sept 24	England v Romania
Sat Sept 24	New Zealand v France	Sun Sept 25	Argentina v Scotland
Tues Sept 27	Canadav Japan	Wed Sept 28	Georgia v Romania
Sat Oct 1	France v Tonga	Sat Oct 1	England v Scotland
Sun Oct 2	New Zealand v Canada	Sun Oct 2	Argentina v Georgia

Win Pool A:	Sportsbook	Win Pool B:	Sportsbook

POOL C		POOL D
Sun Sept 11	Ireland v USA	Sat Sept 10	Fiji v Namibia
Sun Sept 11	Australia v Italy	Sun Sept 11	South Africav Wales
Thurs Sept 15	Russia v USA	Wed Sept 14	Samoa v Namibia
Sat Sept 17	Australiav Ireland	Sat Sept 17	South Africav Fiji
Tues Sept 20	Italy v Russia	Sun Sept 18	Wales v Samoa
Fri Sept 23	Australiav USA	Thurs Sept 22	South Africav Namibia
Sun Sept 25	Ireland v Russia	Sun Sept 25	Fiji v Samoa
Tues Sept 27	Italy v USA	Mon Sept 26	Wales v Namibia
Sat Oct 1	Australia v Russia	Fri Sept 30	South Africa v Samoa
Sun Oct 2	Ireland v Italy	Sun Oct 2	Wales v Fiji

Win Pool C:	Sportsbook	Win Pool D:	Sportsbook

QUARTER FINAL		SEMI FINAL
Sat Oct 8	Australiav Wales	Sat Oct 15	Australia v England
Sat Oct 8	Englandv France	Sun Oct 16	South Africa v New Zeal.
Sun Oct 9	South Africav Ireland
Sun Oct 9	New Zeal. v Argentina

BRONZE FINAL		FINAL
Fri Oct 21	South Africa v England	Sun Oct 23	Australia v New Zealand