World Cup 2023 Group C Betting Preview – Rugby Picks, Predictions and Odds
Rugby World Cup 2023 Betting Predictions – Group C
Rugby World Cup 2023 kicks off in France on September 8th and Rugby betting expert Kevin Dolan gives his thoughts on the various groups (pools), and where the betting value lies in respect to who will come out on top and progress through to the knockout rounds.
Pool C is arguably the weakest group ahead of this year’s tournament, and almost identical to the 2019 iteration as well, consisting of two-time winners Australia, 2019 4th placed finishers Wales, strong Pacific island nation Fiji, and rounded out by both Georgia and Portugal in what should be another top-heavy group in this competition.
Below we’ll go over each team’s odds to win the group and who we expect to progress through to the knockout rounds.
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| Group C Countries | Odds to Win Group C (DraftKings) |
|---|---|
| Australia | -250 |
| Wales | +225 |
| Fiji | +1800 |
| Georgia | +5000 |
| Portugal | +40000 |
Australia (-250)
Australia go into this year’s tournament as the competition’s biggest overall group favorites, not because of their relative strength compared with other top nations in this year’s tournament, but mainly because of how weak the opposing teams are in this group.
We’ll cover that a little bit later but Australia nonetheless come into this competition not in the best momentum overall, winning just two of their last eight international matches and getting thumped by neighbors New Zealand 40-14 back in September also.
That said, while we’re a far cry from the glory days of the legendary David Campese and the 1999 World Cup-winning squad which allowed just one total try across the entire tournament, there are bright spots for this Wallabies side heading into this year’s edition.
Eddie Jones made the move over from his former team England to take charge of his native Australia last year and he should provide a major boost to the confidence of this Wallabies side, at least in the short term, as he brings in his trademark brand of over-confidence and left-field thinking to the national team.
While Australia are a little bit light in the fullback position, with Michael Hooper, Rob Valetini, and Marika Koroibete, the Australians have genuine world-class talent in their roster, and the Wallabies should prove a headache for any team with their distinctive brand of direct forward pressure in games.
While nothing can be taken for granted ahead of any big tournament, Australia has nevertheless been blessed with one of the most manageable groups in the entire tournament and it would be a major surprise not to see them come out on top in this one.
Wales (+225)
Four years makes a huge difference in world rugby and probably the most notable example of that is this Welsh rugby team which has slid dramatically since their last entry to a World Cup back in 2019.
Wales went on a monster run in that year, winning the Grand Slam in the Six Nations for the 12th time, and beating current foes Australia 29-25 to finish top of Pool D in the World Cup, eventually going on to claim an impressive semi-final berth, their second-best finish ever.
Since then however, the Welsh have had relatively little to sing about, with their only high point being that 2021 Six Nations success, but culminating in this year’s dismal 2023 campaign, a campaign which saw them win just one solitary game overall and finish with a competition worst -63 goal differential also.
That poor performance has been compounded by a mass exodus of Welsh players from the national squad ahead of this year’s World Cup, mainly due to contractual disputes.
Rhys Webb, Cory Hill, and Ross Moriarty have all opted to take big-money contracts with French clubs in the Top 14, among other leagues, which demand players be in camp for the start of the league in late August, effectively ruling them out of participating in this year’s World Cup.
With long-standing captain Alun Wyn Jones and experienced flanker Justin Tipuric both announcing their retirements from the national squad just months before the World Cup is due to begin also, that’s only added further issues for Warren Gatland to sort out ahead of September’s tournament.
Many people are expecting Wales to struggle in this competition as a result, and both Fiji and Georgia could give them a stiff test leading to qualification from this group even being potentially tricky for this Welsh side.
Fiji (+1800)
The Fijians may well be this year’s dark horses as just like Tonga, they’ve benefitted immensely from the new eligibility rules that came in back in 2021.
Ex-All Blacks winger Seta Tamanivalu is chief among those changes for Fiji ahead of this tournament, and that experience combined with other new additions to the squad could prove extremely fruitful in terms of Fiji potentially making a deep run in this competition.
The other major boost for Fiji ahead of this year’s World Cup is their current involvement in the restructured Super Rugby Pacific tournament, which sees their clubs and homegrown talent compete against the best teams from Australia, New Zealand, and the rest of the Pacific Islands combined.
With a crucial opening first game against Wales, key players such as Semi Radradra, Josua Tuisova, and Leone Nakarawa will need to be at their best, but if Fiji can pull off that opening day upset against the Welsh, suddenly this group gets blown wide open in terms of qualification.
Georgia (+5000) & Portugal (+40000)
Georgia are arguably Pool C’s other dark horses to qualify, given they actually rank ahead of Fiji in the world rankings right now.
Georgia achieved a best-ever 3rd-place group finish back in the 2015 World Cup, and come off a record-setting 12th victory in the recent Rugby Europe Championship as well, effectively a kind of Six Nations B for the Northern Hemisphere’s weaker nations.
With current French Top 14 players Jaba Bregvadze, Vasil Lobzhanidze, and Gela Aprasidze, the Georgians will no doubt be hoping to continue their solid run of form into this tournament and generate another couple of wins as a result.
Portugal meanwhile heads to only their second World Cup ever, finishing bottom of the group back in 2007.
However, the Portuguese managed to score at least one try in every single one of those group games, even if they were on the wrong side of some truly horrendous beatings, losing 108-13 against New Zealand for example.
That said, Portugal are arguably at their strongest ebb right now heading into a major tournament, finishing top of their group in the recent Rugby Europe Championship, and demolishing neighbors Spain in the semi-finals also, only to lose out 38-11 against current group foes Georgia in the final.
Not a lot is expected out of this Portuguese side in 2023 and they’ll likely target revenge against Georgia as their only potential winnable game in this group.
Rugby World Cup 2023 Group C Final Standings Prediction
- Australia
- Fiji
- Wales
- Georgia
- Portugal
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