Ireland vs Tonga Prediction & Betting Tips - Rugby World Cup

Prediction published on 14/09/2023, 14:00  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 16/09/2023 at 07:00 in Rugby World Cup Prediction

Ireland and Tonga will face off in the second week of the 2023 Rugby World Cup this Saturday evening. The Irish are currently leading Pool B, while Tonga are third and playing their first match of the competition. The home side were incredible in their first match of the competition and proved why they are the number one ranked side in the world. They battered Romania 82-8, which is the biggest win in the competition so far. With that result, Ireland extended their record to 13 consecutive wins. During that run, they also secured the Six Nations trophy earlier in the year and overtook France into the number one ranking. In the warm-up matches, Ireland beat Italy 33-17, England 29-10, and Samoa 17-13. They are firmly expected to qualify from this Pool along with South Africa and are massive favourites in this match. 

As for Tonga, they could not have chosen a worse opponent to face in their opening match of the 2023 RWC. They saw the Irish take the Romanians apart last week and will know that the world number one will be eyeing up another big win here. Unfortunately, there may be little they can do about that, as their results in the lead-up to the competition have been average at best. In their last five matches, Tonga were beaten by Fiji, Japan, and Samoa, but did manage to overcome Canada in a double-header last month. In fact, those were the only wins they have recorded since November 2022. All signals suggest that they are in for a big defeat here, but they will relish the opportunity to have a free hit at the Irish.