It’s all come full circle in the Rugby League World Cup 2017. The opening match of the tournament saw Australia take on England and it was the hosts who came out on top in Melbourne, posting an 18-4 win. Now the two nations will meet again in the Final of the tournament on Saturday to see who walks off with the famous trophy. It is the Wallabies who once again, will be going as red hot favourites to land the victory.
Australia Form
The first match between them in the pool stage saw Australia roll out an 18-4 victory and England just never got close to them. They are the best side in the world by a country mile and they romped to three wins from three in the group stage, putting up 104 points in the process and conceding just the ten. They absolutely destroyed Samoa in the quarter finals, putting 46 unanswered points on the board, before seeing off Tonga equally as easily with a 54-6 victory. They just haven’t been tested and frankly, it is questionable as to whether or not they will be in the Final either. Valentine Holmes is the top scorer in the tournament with twelve tries in a phenomenal return and six of these were in their semi final against Fiji. Holmes is the 5/1 first try scorer favourite for the final.
England Form
The group stage campaign for England wasn’t as convincing even though they took second place behind the Kangaroos. They were made to work very hard by underdogs Lebanon and then just had a stuttering victory over France. Again it was an unconvincing showing form them in the quarter-finals as they beat out Papua New Guinea, despite a 36-6 win. But they saved their best for the semi finals when it mattered most as they edged Tonga 20-18. Tonga had become a force to be reckoned with because of the players they had drafted into their squad from other nations, but England showed a lot of steel and character and some decent clinical finishing as well as scrambled defence in that game. England basically came up big when it mattered most in holding on against a Tonga fightback.
Betting Tip
England would be the first European side to win the Rugby league World Cup in 45 years. The last time that any side from the northern hemisphere won Down Under was a 23-12 win for Great Britain back in 2006. This is the first final between the teams for 22 years and England are massive 7/1 underdogs to come away with the win. The English have their assets. If Sam Burgess produces a top performance he can carry England, plus England arguably have the better back-three of the two of them.
England last reached the final in 1995 when they were stopped by the Kangaroos on home soil at Wembley. Australia have made this sport their own. They have won seven of the last eight editions of the tournament and from the fourteen previous editions of the Rugby League World Cup, Australia have only failed to be in the final once. They have home advantage, they have scoring power than England don’t quite possess and have already proven they can handle the English. It has to be a win for the Aussies but England can cover a +17.5 handicap for even money.