Rugby World Cup 2023: France v Uruguay predictions and best bets

Where to watch France v Uruguay

ITV4, 8pm Thursday

Best bet

France to win by 41 to 50 points
1pt 5-1 bet365

Handicaps

-52 France, +53 Uruguay

France v Uruguay predictions

Rugby World Cup hosts France have cleared their first hurdle by winning their opening match against New Zealand, and can look forward to a bit of down time before the real battles in the knockout stage.

Les Bleus were famously beaten by Tonga in the pool stage of the 2011 tournament, before going on to reach the final, but it's hard to see any slip-ups in their next two matches against two of the weakest teams in the field - Thursday's opponents Uruguay followed by Namibia.

So it's no surprise to see a French line-up which features just three players who started the clash with the All Blacks last week as head coach Fabien Galthie looks to the depth of his squad to take on the minnows.

Uruguay have qualified for their third successive Rugby World Cup but have the worst defensive record over the last two tournaments having shipped 140 points in their pool matches in 2019 and 226 in 2015. They have played five tier-one teams in those tournaments and lost all five games by an average margin of 44 points.

The handicap for this Pool A encounter is 52 points and the South Americans may well have their backers given their strong record. Not only did they stay within the line in all five of those matches against the big guns in 2015 and 2019, none of their opponents even scored enough points to reach the handicap.

The French side of past tournaments would never be trusted to cover a line of more than 50 points, and in their seven clashes with tier-two teams at the last three World Cups they have rewarded their handicap backers just once when giving up more than 20 points.

Curiously five of those seven matches ended with a France victory by a scoreline of 21 to 30 points, and backing another victory by that margin is a tempting 8-1 shot.

But this is new-look France who have worked hard to shed their flakey image, and underdogs did not fare well against the best teams on the opening weekend, when Namibia, Romania and Chile all failed to cover and Georgia stayed inside the line by just one point against Australia.

Rather than take even money about a trappy-looking handicap line, backing a win by 41 to 50 points looks more appealing. Uruguay have some experienced players in their 23 and could hold their own for spells, and while France won't go through the motions, they may not cut loose.

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