The Rugby 7s series moves to Vancouver, Canada this week at BC Place Stadium. Fiji will be defending their 2018 title and they’ll be looking to catch the USA who’ve moved atop the rankings. USA won in Las Vegas and haven’t finished outside the top three this season. New Zealand is currently in 2nd position and they’ll be looking for a 4th straight top three finish. All of the action begins on Sunday morning until the final on Monday afternoon.
Vancouver Rugby 7s Betting Tips
Pool A
Fresh from a series victory in Las Vegas, USA will look to continue their winning ways up North in Vancouver. The victory also moved them atop the standings and 5 points clear of 2nd position. In this group, South Africa will likely be a tough opponent for USA. The South Africans finished 3rd here last season and will be looking to avenge a 29-10 quarter-final against the Americans in Las Vegas. Rounding out the Pool will be Wales and Chile, both teams are unlikely to beat the top two sides. In the end, it’s difficult betting against the USA at the moment as they’ve not finished outside the top three in the 5 series thus far.
No Value Bet - USA WIN
Pool B
Credit goes to Samoa as they were the most surprising team in Las Vegas. While they lost 27-0 in the final against the home side, the experience they’ve gained will hopefully see more consistent results. They will face a test against Fiji in this Pool. The Fijians have looked out of sync in Sydney and Las Vegas so they’ll be looking to get back on track in Canada. Speaking of Canada, they’re the 3rd ranked side in this Pool but didn’t show much in Las Vegas. They also earned just 2 points in last year’s home series. Kenya is just rounding out the numbers as they again failed in Las Vegas, finishing 4th in their Pool. I think if you’re betting on form, Samoa is very good value to win this Pool if they can upset Fiji.
Pool C
A rivalry matchup between Australia and New Zealand will occur in Pool C. New Zealand has been on fire lately with a win in Sydney and top three finishes in Hamilton and Las Vegas. Hence, they sit 2nd in the series standings. Australia would have been disappointed with a 21-20 quarter-final loss in Las Vegas after upsetting Fiji in the pool stages. France followed a good performance in Sydney with a tough outing in Las Vegas and they’ll likely struggle against the top two sides in this Pool. Spain is starting to build a decent team and they’ll be a tough battle for the other 3 sides. But in the end, I can’t see New Zealand not finishing first.
No Value Bet - New Zealand WIN
Pool D
This Pool offers some value for punters’ with England just favourites at $1.60 behind Argentina ($2.20). These two sides played in a very close quarter-final in Las Vegas, with Argentina winning 26-21. They ended up reaching the Bronze Final and just lost to New Zealand by 7 points. So I can see their battle defining which team wins this Pool. Scotland will play hard against England in their rivalry matchup and that could be the difference for Argentina. They won Pool B against the USA in Las Vegas and I like their value this week.
Prediction
Based on the Pool groups and likely results, it’s looking like the USA and New Zealand will meet in the semi-finals once again. In Las Vegas, the USA just overcome them 24-19. But I think with Fiji struggling for their 100% best form, the winner of the USA/New Zealand semi-final will likely win the final. There’s a lot of motivation for New Zealand as they sit 5 points behind the Americans in the series standings with 4 legs left after Canada. They could bridge the gap in Vancouver as a result of a good performance. So I think they’ll avenge their Las Vegas semi-final defeat and overcome the other sides to win this series.
