The final round of group matches in the Rugby League World Cup get underway on Friday night and we begin in Group C where New Zealand will go up against Ireland with quarter final spots on the line at Headingley.
New Zealand have one foot in the quarter finals and a win here will secure their passage as group winners. Ireland have to win and then hope that Lebanon don’t muller Jamaica over the weekend if they are to qualify.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC Three channel. The build-up to the game begins at 7.05pm with kick off in Leeds coming at 7.30pm.
New Zealand
Given the stories that have been elsewhere in this tournament, New Zealand have almost gone under the radar so far. They have won their two matches with the minimum of fuss and look to be building through the event as they would have wanted. They have had the luxury to get most of their squad involved and up and running and now you would expect them to go through the gears with the aim of peaking for the last eight next week.
The thing which has caught the eye for the Kiwis so far is the skill they have in the spine of their side and also the quality they have out wide. We haven’t really seen the best of them down the middle just yet but we know there isn’t a New Zealand side that hasn’t got power and quality in the pack and it might just be that a potentially physical clash like this one offers then the chance to show just what they have in that department.
Ireland
Ireland opened up the tournament with an emphatic enough win which set them up to make the quarter final but they fluffed their lines against Lebanon last weekend and now have an uphill challenge to achieve their aim of making it through to the knockout stages. They have to win this match and could do with winning it by as big a margin as possible to give Lebanon something to do later in the weekend.
If Ireland are to give themselves any chance in this match then they have to be a lot more clinical in the opposing 20 than they have been in this tournament so far. While they did a job on Jamaica in the opening game, they let a lot of chances to boost their point difference slip and messed a few chances up against Lebanon too. They also have to keep their discipline here. They let themselves down badly in that department against Lebanon and a repeat will finish them off.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THE RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Team News
New Zealand welcome back quality in the form of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Jahrome Hughes for this match. They return from suspension and injury respectively. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has not recovered from the injury he picked up last week.
Ireland will be without the suspended Liam Byrne and Jaimin Jolliffe who are both suspended after incidents in the loss to Lebanon. Rob Mulhern is injured which means that Henry O’Kane and Dan Norman could come in for their debuts.
Betting
New Zealand are emphatic favourites for this match as you would expect but I’m not so sure they should be receiving 46 points on the handicap. This isn’t a part-time Ireland team. They are mostly all full-time professionals who at the very least should be able to play for the entire 80 minutes and given that they have to win this game we should expect them to come out with a competitive attitude unlike Jamaica in the last match New Zealand played whose only ambition was to score a try.
I expect New Zealand to win the game but it might be an arm wrestle at times which can keep Ireland close enough and then when the game is won I just wonder if the Kiwis will be all out to impose misery on the Irish when they have a quarter final next week to preserve some energy for. Ireland have a threat of their own going the other way and if they cross the try line a couple of times it will need New Zealand to put up close to 60 points to cover the handicap. I’m not convinced I see that happening in what will be tough conditions for free flowing rugby.
Tips
Back Ireland (+46) to beat New Zealand for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
