Updated:2019
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About the Irish team
The Irish were expected to get the clean sweep of three wins in Pool A, but it turns out that the Japanese had other ideas. The host nation has undoubtedly given the Irish team and their fans something to think about coming into this match against Samoa. The Irish are favorite to win, sure, but the fact that Samoa managed to score 19 points against the Japanese won’t be taken lightly. The Pool A decider is all set to kick off in Fukuoka this Saturday and the stakes are huge.
The Irish are in need of a bonus-point victory to ensure their World Cup journey continues, so they will be looking to take the game to Samoa in the hope of securing a comfortable win.
About the Samoan team
The Pacific islanders started their World Cup account with a comfortable 34-9 win over the Russians, but their spirit was soon crushed when they met the Scots in their second Pool A match. Samoa didn’t manage to get a point on the scoreboard as they went down 0-34, however, all was not lost when they lined up against the Japanese and put up a brave fight by scoring 19 against the in-form host nation. The Samoans will be up against it in their final match but they will want to go out with a strong finish as Scotland are the only clear threat to Ireland’s chances of progressing now.
What to expect from the game
In all tournaments, the two teams have met six times and the Irish have won five of those with Samoa’s one and only win coming way back in 1996. So the momentum is definitely with Ireland, and the fact they have so much on the line after that defeat against Japan will make the match all the more difficult for Samoa. The Irish are tough opponents on any given occasion but when you put the World Cup into the equation then you’ll really be up against it, It’s fair to say that most punters won’t be looking past anything other than the Irish win here, and all the bookies will be calling it the same. With this in mind, it looks more like how many will the Irish win by as opposed to will they win at all.
Best odds
Our suggestion is to look at the Handicap betting markets and pick out a reasonable point score for the Irish to make up. We’re going to keep with the Irish theme here and look at:
–Paddy Power’s offering of Ireland to win with a -27 point handicap at odds 10/11(1.91).
–William Hill offering odds of 16/1(17.00) if you think Samoa can hold the draw until half-time with Ireland then going on to win in the second half.
