This weekend will see the Women’s Rugby World Cup kick off, although a year later than intended courtesy of Covid-19. New Zealand will host the tournament that runs from the 8th of October until the 12th of November.
With home side New Zealand having won five of the past six World Cups, including the latest edition in 2017, and England having recently been the in-form team in women’s rugby, bookies are expecting this to be a tight event. We take a look at the outright odds to win the tournament from William Hill, and breakdown the favourites to come away with the title.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 7th, 10:00 P.M. (EST)
Despite the fact that New Zealand are the defending champions and playing at home, William Hill has England as the strong favourite to win this World Cup. The Red Roses are at 1.50 to go home with the title, which is well ahead of second favourites New Zealand.
This World Cup is in essence a two-horse race with the next two favourites, France and Canada, well behind priced at 12.00 and 21.00. After these four teams, the odds begin to become astronomical with the fifth favourite team paying 67.00 to win.
So the question is, who will win out of England and New Zealand?
The reason England has such a strong lead over New Zealand in the odds is because of what occurred last time these two teams faced off.
New Zealand had been the dominant force in women’s rugby winning the World Cup five years ago and going on a hot winning streak. However, this dominance came to an abrupt halt in Europe last year when the Black Ferns dropped four games in a row against England and France. The two results against England were particularly painful with losses of 43-12 and 56-15.
Since then, however, New Zealand have bounced back strong winning six on the trot this year, including a 95-12 win over Japan recently. Playing in front of a home crowd with the World Cup on the line, betting on New Zealand to win with a 3.00 return is an enticing prospect.
England, on the other hand, are on an incredible 25 game winning streak. For context, the All Blacks are often considered the best international sports team in the world and their longest winning streak is only 18 games.
In fact, only once in their last 10 matches have England failed to score more than 50 points. The team is in a rich vein of form and looks likely to continue that over the next five weeks at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
