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This is a mismatch with France coming off a decisive win against the All Blacks. Predicting the winner is not the issue here; the issue is the 52.5 spread!
After an exciting first week, the second round of matches at the 2023 Rugby World Cup will kick-off Thursday evening when France will face Uruguay at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Les Bleus were sensational in their tournament opening game and will look to keep up their strong performance, while Los Teros will try their hardest to cause an upset in their inaugural fixture of this competition.
France will enter this match full of optimism after recording their inaugural victory of the tournament over New Zealand by beating them 27-13 at Stade de France last week in front of a crowd of 80,000 people.
Damian Penaud and Melvyn Jaminet scored for Les Bleus during this match, with Thomas Ramos contributing 17 points through five penalties and one conversion attempt.
Although their final score might have appeared comfortable, Pool A’s two powerhouses battled hard throughout, and France only managed to pull away in the second half after entering halftime at 9-8.
Fabien Galthie’s side was caught off-guard on occasion as Mark Telea broke through their defence to score in both halves, while Will Jordan being sent to the sin bin interrupted the All Blacks’ momentum-building play at just the right moment.
But while they know they must perform at a higher level for the rest of this World Cup tournament, their victory against New Zealand in pool play gives them true faith that they can reach the championship final.
Uruguay will understand the difficulty of their task here. It will enter as underdogs hoping to confound host nation France at Villeneuve-d’Ascq Stadium, expected to be packed out once again.
Los Teros come into this competition in excellent form, having secured consecutive victories in their warm-up matches against Chile 26-25 back in July and Namibia 26-18 at the beginning of last month.
TheSouth Americans finished at the bottom of their Pool in Japan at this year’s World Cup competition, although they did manage a notable win against Fiji 30-27 in their opening match.
Esteban Meneses was at the helm for Uruguays last victory four years ago. He will have a plan in place this year to attempt a repeat performance – though his side’s best scoring chances will likely lie against Namibia or Italy.
Uruguay have never managed to defeat a top-tier team at a Rugby World Cup; their sole victory came against Japan – though this was before Japan were promoted to elite status for 2020.
Uruguay has no chance to win this game, but the -52.5 is a huge spread, and with France coming off a huge win over the All Blacks, the possibility for a letdown is huge in this game. France wins 58-10.
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