Rugby World Cup 2023: What Predictions for England?
by Joseph King | by Joseph King
England Seek Second Webb Ellis Cup
A 32-12 defeat to South Africa in Yokohama at the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup marked the third time that England have finished as runners-up in this competition. They share the record for the most second-place finishes along with France, but unlike Les Bleus, the Red and Whites have a Rugby World Cup title to their name. 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of England lifting the Webb Ellis Cup after a 20-17 victory over host nation Australia in the 2003 final. Since then, the English have experienced highs and lows: from making the final in 2007 and 2019 to becoming the first ever host nation to be knocked out in the initial group stage in 2015. They’re going through a difficult stretch as things stand and will have to wait until their first game against Argentina to turn things around. Be sure to head over to our Rugby World Cup predictions page to see our experts’ insights, all free of charge.
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Less Than Ideal Preparation for England
Results haven’t been inspiring under head coach Steve Borthwick, who took over proceedings at the end of 2022. The former England international’s first task was the 2023 Six Nations. England were largely disappointing in that event, finishing with two wins and three losses from their five matches. Among those losses was a dreadful performance against France which saw England lose 53-10 at home, their biggest ever defeat at Twickenham.
Since then, England haven’t done much to suggest they will be able to make a realistic push for the Rugby World Cup title. Three of their four preparation friendly matches ended in defeat, including a 30-22 loss to Fiji in the team’s most recent appearance. That result was the catalyst for England dropping to eighth in the official team rankings. This represents the first time since the disastrous 2015 Rugby World Cup that England have fallen this low, equalling their lowest-ever ranking.
One of the teams to surpass the Red and White in the rankings is their first group stage opponent, Argentina. These two teams faced off in November of last year, with Argentina finally putting an end to a lengthy losing streak against the English by way of a 30-29 win.
England return a number of key players from the 2019 team that made the final. However, they’ll have to deal with a few injuries and suspensions that could make the first few games tricky. They’ll be without their captain and star player Owen Farrell for the first two games of the competition. Farrell was suspended following a high tackle against Wales in one of the preparation matches. This means that he’ll miss the games against Argentina and Japan, the two biggest threats that England face in Pool D. They've also lost Jack van Poortvliet and Anthony Watson to injury, while Kyle Sinckler is still recovering from a pectoral injury.
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Rugby World Cup 2023 - England’s fixtures
Pool D is widely considered to be the easiest of the four pools. The recent shake-up in the rankings has Argentina as the highest ranked team in the pool at sixth while England fall to eighth. The other contenders in the group are Samoa, who are ranked 12th, and Japan, who are ranked 14th. The final team rounding out the group is 22nd-ranked Chile.
Here’s the complete fixture list (date and time according to UK time zone)
- England vs Argentina - September 9th 20:00, Stade Velodrome
- England vs Fiji - September 17th 20:00, Allianz Riviera
- England vs Wales - September 23rd 16:45, Pierre-Mauroy
- England vs Portugal - October 7th, 16:45, Pierre-Mauroy
You can follow the action for every single game at the 2023 Rugby World Cup on our Rugby World Cup Livescore page.
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What Bets to Make for England in the 2023 Rugby World Cup?
England come into the tournament with odds of 13.00 on Bet365 and Vbet to lift the Webb Ellis Cup. This places the Red and Whites as the bookmakers’ sixth-favorites to win it all.
While their recent form is certainly concerning, the draw for England could ultimately be the deciding factor in them making a deep run. There’s a rather large gap between the top four teams in the world and the rest of the nations in international rugby. This is reflected in the betting odds, with little separating New Zealand, France, Ireland and South Africa. Luckily for England, all four of those teams are spread throughout Pools A and B. This means that should England progress from Group D, they’ll take on the first or second-place team from Pool C – likely Australia or Wales.
Argentina, Japan and Samoa will certainly not be pushovers in the initial pool stage. However, England should have enough to secure passage to the quarter-final, likely being accompanied by the Argentinians. At odds of 2.20 on William Hill, England to be eliminated in the semi-final looks to have a good amount of value. The semi-final is when England would meet up with one of the aforementioned top four teams, should they overcome their quarter-final opponent of course. Stay tuned to our Rugby World Cup betting odds page for the latest bookmaker odds!
