Rugby World Cup Predictions – September 20-21

The Rugby World Cup rolls on with two midweek games getting the third round underway, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

Italy kick off the action against Uruguay in Nice on Wednesday afternoon while hosts France return to the fray against Namibia in Marseille on Thursday night.

Italy v Uruguay

Wednesday, 20 September – 17:45

Italy will be out to match the intensity of their tournament-opening performance against Namibia, which saw them annihilate the African side 52-8.

Not having played last week will make that trickier than it would otherwise have been but it’s also allowed them to work on their game and get used to the conditions.

Aside from a shock win, which would’ve been the greatest upset in rugby history, Uruguay couldn’t have hoped for a better performance in their opening game against France last Thursday. Los Teros were tremendously brave as they gave the hosts a scare and ultimately fell 27-12 to the weakened French side.

They’ll draw a ton of belief from that and if Italy allow them to stay in the game for as long as Les Bleus did, it could be a tense time out for the Italians at the Stade de Nice.

The Azzurri will be wise to this and will show Uruguay more respect than the French did between the four lines to come away with a comfortable win.

France v Namibia

Thursday, 21 September – 21:00

After his charges’ sloppy aforementioned win over Uruguay, in which they failed to get the bonus point, Fabien Galthie will demand a more clinical and ruthless performance. So, too, will the home fans who left the game in Lille feeling short-changed.

Namibia have had a really rough time in France, their abovementioned defeat to Italy being compounded by a 71-3 drubbing at the hands of the All Blacks last Friday.

The short turnaround and third mountainous match-up in a row haven’t done Allister Coetzee and his troops any favours and a near-full strength Les Bleus will add to their woes.