| Tweet |
|
|
Ireland v Wales Prediction
Author: Thomas Rooney 06/10/2011
There has been an incredible amount of build-up to this weekend’s Rugby World Cup quarter-finals and rightly so. Some have even suggested it could be the best weekend of international rugby for many years.
This is perhaps due to the fact that there aren’t too many clear winners. In the group stages of the competition, there were a lot of one-sided games and easy to predict fixtures. This all changes now though as we reach the business end of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
It all starts with Ireland v Wales at 6am on Saturday morning. This is without doubt a contest to get yourself out of bed for. Get the coffee on, get the toast in and sit back to watch two passionate rugby nations going head to head.
As previously mentioned, these quarter-final matches are extremely tough to call. England v France is going to be unbearably close and South Africa v Australia is set to be an epic battle between two teams aiming to win this tournament.
Then, although New Zealand v Argentina should be a home banker, the contest between Ireland and Wales is arguably the closest of the lot. How can you choose between the two? They have both been excellent during their World Cup campaigns so far and neither deserves to crash out at this stage.
Someone has to though and this is what makes everything so exciting. The build-up itself is going to be special – the warm-ups, the national anthems, the fans mixing together, everything is set up for this to be one of the most memorable World Cup moments of all time.
This might seem like an extreme statement, but the thing is, even if the rugby isn’t of the highest quality – there may not be try after try for example – the action is going to be gripping, perhaps similar to that of Wales’ near miss with South Africa earlier in the tournament or England’s narrow victory over Scotland.
This has been billed as experience v youth and you can see why. Ireland have several older statesman in their side, while Wales are relying on a few young guns. This isn’t as significant as people are making out though.
Quite simply, both teams have players capable of producing the magic moment that could decided such an important, closely fought match.
It could come down to which team handles their nerves better. Make no mistake about it, in front of a packed crowd, with rugby fans across the world watching – the heart will be pumping.
If this is to be the basis, Ireland might just nick it and it could be an extremely low scoring game. What it will lack in points though, it will more than make up for in pure adrenaline fuelled entertainment first thing on a Saturday morning.
Ireland v Wales Prediction: Ireland at 4/5 with bet365
Bet365 World Cup Rugby Odds