Leading Contenders for the 2023 Rugby World Cup

The 2023 Rugby World Cup in France is one of the highlights of the international sports calendar. The best teams in the world will contest the tournament across two months, with the final set to be played in Paris on October 28.

Here is a look at the leading contenders for the trophy this year, in what is the 10th edition of the rugby tournament.

Defending Champion South Africa Looking to Replicate 2019 Success

After beating England in the final in 2019, South Africa are the defending champions this year. They are 11/4 in the betting on Rugby World Cup outright market to retain their trophy and become only the second back-to-back winners in history.

South Africa have been drawn in Pool B of the tournament and their toughest test in that group will come against Ireland. The Springboks are the 8/11 favourites in the rugby odds for what is set to be one of the highlights of the opening stage of the competition.

The 2019 trophy winners were successful in their last four warm-up matches heading into the World Cup, with victories coming against New Zealand and Wales. They seem to have found their best form at exactly the right time of the year.

New Zealand’s Record in This Tournament Is Exceptional

With two triumphs in the last three renewals of this tournament, the All Blacks have an excellent record at the World Cup. They were beaten by England in the semi-final in 2019 and they will be hoping to bounce back from that defeat.

New Zealand have not made a great start to their World Cup campaign as they lost to France in the opening game of the tournament. That was their first group stage loss in the history of the competition.

With one of the strongest squads at this year’s World Cup, the All Blacks will be expected to reach the latter end of the tournament at the very least. They will be confident of reversing their result with Les Bleus should they meet again in the knockout stages.

Hosts France Will Fancy Home Success

France will have the backing of their home supporters throughout this year’s tournament and that could prove to be a big advantage. Les Bleus showed how strong they were in their Pool A opener against New Zealand, scoring 27 points in the victory over their rivals for the trophy. They then backed that up with a straightforward win over Uruguay.

Fabien Galthié’s team have had a lot of success since the start of 2022. They landed the Six Nations Championship last year, winning all five games to land the Triple Crown. The European side are also up to third in the world rankings behind Ireland and South Africa respectively.

Full-back Thomas Ramos has consistently been one of the leading players in his position in 2023. He has already scored five penalties in his opening two games of the World Cup, and he could be a vital player for their hosts in their bid for a first triumph in this tournament.

It is set to be one of the most open World Cup renewals in history, which should ensure there will be some entertaining matches right through to the final.

This article was provided to Verge by a third party.