The second set of matches at the Rugby League World Cup continue on Saturday when a triple header of action in the tournament take place up and down England on a day where the host nation are on show once again.
We get to see the middle games in Group A, B and C over the course of Saturday so by the end of the day we will have a decent impression of who will go through to the quarter finals from these sections.
Fiji vs Italy (14.30 – BBC iPlayer)
Venue: Kingston Park
The opening match of the day is a huge one in Group B as Fiji look to bounce back from their defeat to Australia last weekend when they take on an Italy side who know that if they come out on top in this contest they will be through to the quarter finals for the first time in their history.
Italy were expected to be the whipping boys of this competition but nobody told them that as they handed out a bit of a beating to Scotland and probably don’t need a huge amount of improvement to be competitive here at the very least. To be fair to Fiji, at times they gave as good as they got against Australia so there is certainly no need to panic but whether they exert themselves to cover a three score handicap remains to be seen because they know they only need to win here and against Scotland next week to make the last eight themselves. If they wish to do a job here I think they have the talent to do it but there’s enough doubt to allow me to leave it alone.
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England vs France (17.00 – BBC Two)
Venue: University of Bolton Stadium
The middle match of the three on Saturday sees the start of the second set of games in Group A where England look to secure a quarter final berth in their home World Cup when they host France in Bolton.
Both these teams won their opening match of the competition. England demolished Samoa in a match they were incredibly the outsiders to win while France got past Greece in a pretty underwhelming display by Laurent Frayssinous’ men. They are going to need to up their game significantly if they are going to come out on top in this one, especially in the kicking game department. It might just be that they knew they had more than enough to see off Greece, especially once they went ahead, and got sloppy but either way they need a perfect display even against a much changed England side if they are going to get anything from this one. Bookmakers are giving France a 38 point start which feels about right given the changes England have made.
New Zealand vs Jamaica (19.30 – BBC Three)
Venue: MKM Stadium
The final match of a busy Saturday in the competition comes from Hull where New Zealand will look to confirm their quarter final spot when they take on the minnows of Jamaica who will be out to show what they can offer the world game.
New Zealand took a while to get going against Lebanon last week but the longer the match went on the better they got and they’ll be looking to pick up where they left off in this game. Jamaica were humbled by Ireland in their opening match of the tournament and really struggled the longer that one went on which doesn’t bode well for the underdogs here. New Zealand have made a number of changes for this match, but we saw with Australia on Friday night that it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a good deal weaker. The big question for Jamaica here is how they’ve recovered from a pretty intense hit out against Ireland last week. The last thing they need is to be jaded going into this one. Bookmakers are giving Jamaica a 72 point start but I’m not sure that will be enough. Ireland put up 48 points without conceding a try last week and they bombed four or five more try chances. New Zealand will be more ruthless than that and the longer this one goes on the more dominant I expect them to be.
Tips
Back New Zealand (-72) to beat Jamaica for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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