WillGreenwood

Argentina v Romania

Argentina's reward for pushing England last weekend has been a spate of injuries. Felipe Contepomi is out of this one while Gonzalo Tiesi has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament. The Romanians hung in there against Scotland very close and will be ultra-competitive once again. Marius Tincu is an excellent leader and he will ensure that Romania do to Argentina what the Pumas did to England: keep the ball amongst the forwards and stop the flair players from expressing themselves. I anticipate a low-scoring game with Argentina edging it to set up a big showdown against Scotland for next Sunday.

South Africa v Fiji

Fijian lock Wame Lewaravu is like Michael Jordan - an athlete of awesome spring and no shortage of finesse. Against Bakkies Botha he's going to need to be at his best. I anticipate a high-scoring contest that really could end 48-40, smashing the maximum points line of 51.5. The weather is crucial in how many points the teams rack up and conditions can be a real leveler in the Southern Hemisphere, as we saw in Scotland v Georgia and Ireland v USA. The fact that the game takes place at night is significant too - something that, in making South Africa such clear favourites, the markets haven't sufficiently factored in. Fiji play fast and loose but South Africa have very strong, sharp players throughout their squad. Check the weather on the day before getting involved.

Wales v Samoa

I was really impressed by Wales against South Africa but they don't win this match they will not survive the Pool of Death. The World Cup is now a knockout tournament for them but they can beat Samao. Sam Warburton lead superbly last weekend, the scrum was sound, everybody was composed, they made the simple calls and stuck with winning formulas. However, they did have chances to win - James Hook could have kicked them to victory regardless of the disputed first half penalty. Wales knew what they had to in the second half and they blew it. I'm still backing them to win this game and go on to cause one of the big teams serious problems in the knockout stage.

Ireland v Australia

This promises to be a thrilling Pool decider. It will have serious ramifications for the rest of the tournament, in terms of who the sides face in the next round, so the stakes are very high. Digby Ioane's injury means that the Wallabies are without a key player but in James O'Connor they bring in an excellent replacement. Paul O'Connell is playing well for Ireland but James Horwill can match him in a titanic tussle at five. The Irish will run Australia close but I'm not convinced that Declan Kidney's men know how to beat strong opposition in the Southern Hemisphere.

France v Canada

Like England, the French come into their second match bidding to blow away their frustrations from week one. Marc Lievremont has publicly criticised his players, as is his habit, and he's hoping to get a positive response. Canada are the only team so far to cause an upset - overcoming Tonga - and they will provide stiff resistance if things go awry early on for Thierry Dusautoir and co. Over all, I think Lievremont will get the desired reaction.

Recommended Bets
3pts Back Argentina to beat Romania by -12.5 points
1pt Back Over 51.5 points in South Africa v Fiji
3pts Back Wales to beat Samoa by -12.5 points
3pts Back Australia to beat Ireland by -12.5 points
3pts Back France to beat Canada by +12.5

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