The width of a post denied Ireland a share of the spoils against the World champions South Africa, but Paddy Power make them strong favourites to bounce back with a win over Samoa.
Packed with pace and power, Samoa are one of the most enjoyable teams to watch in world rugby and will present Ireland with a serious challenge at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
But Paddy Power Bookmakers, the IRFU’s official betting partner, have chalked it up as a very winnable game for the hosts. Ireland are fancied to prevail and are rated a 1/66 chance to win the game.
Declan Kidney has used the chance to give some emerging talent more experience of international rugby, but with places up for grabs we can expect these relative newcomers to give everything in pursuit of a victory and establishing themselves as future starters. It’s an exciting and highly capable fifteen that will face the Samoans.
With that in mind, the handicap offers value with Ireland -23 points available at 10/11. Paddy Power’s alternative handicaps give the punter the power to choose the handicap they prefer.
After inspiring a late comeback against the Springboks, Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer start against Samoa and if they start this game in the manner they finished the last, the Ireland -35 points @ 5/2 option has some appeal.
Although the two sides have seldom crossed paths, there is one noticeable trend to the games – the points tend to flow.
In their four meetings to date, on average they’ve put a total of 58 points on the board and that’s worth bearing in mind for our total match points market.
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