South Africa vs Romania Prediction & Betting Tips - Rugby World Cup

Prediction published on 15/09/2023, 15:27  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 17/09/2023 at 01:00 in Rugby World Cup Prediction

Defending champions South Africa should have few problems beating Romania. The South Africans began the defence of their Rugby World Cup title with an 18-3 win over Scotland. With Ireland and Tonga to face in their final two pool matches, they should comfortably qualify for the last eight. Their next match is against the Irish side who are the top ranked team in the world. That is likely to decide who wins the pool so South Africa will be even more keen to rest players for their second match in Pool B. That has been the case and only Damian Willemse hasn't been rested, so it's virtually a different team.

Romania lost their opening pool match against Romania 82-8. They are ranked 19th in the world and that's 17 places below their opponents. They need to finish third in the pool to avoid having to qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. With Scotland still to be faced that looks an almost impossible task. Romania haven't beaten a tier-one nation since 2004, the only success in the past 29 years. On both occasions it was Italy that they beat. They have more success in the European Nations Cup but have never made it out of the pool stage in the Rugby World Cup. They have won just six of the 28 games they have played in the finals with a points difference of -703. We go for South Africa to win this match on a -57.5 handicap.