Irish sports gambling fans now look to the Rugby World Cup

The rugby season is now over and sports gambling fans all over the world who follow rugby will be turning their attention to the World Cup due to start in September. For those who are not avid rugby fans this will be the eighth Rugby World Cup and will be hosted this year primarily by England but with some matches at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Held every four years the finals are contested by twenty countries split into four pools of five according to their world rankings, with the top two sides from each pool progressing to the knock out stages. Rugby is of course a very popular sport in Ireland, and over recent years Irish rugby has been highly successful both at club level in Europe and in the Six Nations so Irish rugby gambling fans have every reason to look forward to a successful tournament. Although gambling on rugby is not as big as football and horse racing in Ireland an event such as a World Cup will inevitably attract interest from all Irish sports gambling fans, particularly when Ireland on paper have every chance of at least making the quarter finals. Before the main event almost all the competing teams also have a series of warm up matches, so for rugby gambling enthusiasts in Ireland the action actually starts as early as the 8^th August when Ireland take on Wales at the Millenium Stadium. This is followed by Scotland and a return match against Wales at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, and finally a trip to Twickenham and England. When the tournament gets underway in September Ireland will be in Pool D with France, Canada, Romania and Italy, starting with Canada again at the Millennium Stadium on the 19^th. Irish fans of gambling on rugby will be aware however that all being well the big pool game will be against France on 17^th October which is likely to decide who tops the group. Irish rugby gambling fans will also know that should Ireland not beat France in that game and so finish runner up in Pool D, their most likely quarter final opponents will be tournament favourites New Zealand, which is not their preferred option.