The 2023 Rugby World Cup gets underway this Friday with a battle of the two favourites to win. We’ll have previews of every match throughout the tournament but here is an overview of the odds…

Hosts France and three-time winners New Zealand are the top two choices in the betting market to win the tournament before the opening game of the Rugby World Cup.

It is the Kiwi’s who are the 3/1 favourites. A very strong summer season saw them beat Argentina, South Africa and Australia twice before a final warm-up game defeat to the Springboks just a fortnight ago. Ian Foster’s side are currently ranked fourth in the world but the Betfred punters consider them the top side.

France have never been crowned Rugby World Cup champions having been beaten finalists on no fewer than three occasions. This is the second time the competition has been held in the country but they failed to even make the final back in 2007, so the home support wasn’t able to cheer them onto getting over the hump.

Fabien Galthie’s men were only beaten by Ireland in the Six Nations and like the Kiwi’s, have enjoyed a strong summer of warm-up matches. We are 10/3 for the home nation to be victorious.

Defending champions South Africa are a hair below the top two, as we have the Springboks priced up at 7/2 to lift the trophy. Rassie Erasmus was the winning  coach four years ago and the 50 year-old is still in charge, looking to go for back-to-back victories.

They are currently ranked as the second best nation in the world with a record of five wins from six matches so far in the calendar year.

The top nation according to the world rankings however are current Six Nations Grand Slam champions Ireland. The Irish are 5/1 to win it all and they certainly have every chance.

You have to go back to February of 2022 for the last time they lost a game; a tight 30-24 reversal at the Stade de France. Andy Farrell’s side should be heavily fancied to go deep but one note of caution, Ireland have never even reached a Rugby World Cup semi-final.

There is a significant gap both in the rankings and in the betting behind the top four. They should very much be considered the four nations most likely to make the semi-finals.

Australia are next up at 11/1. The Wallabies though have been in abject form throughout 2023 and have yet to win a game with defeats to South Africa, Argentina, France and twice to New Zealand.

England are next up at 14/1 and anyone who has been following the form of the English this summer will know that they are not exactly looking good.

Steve Borthwick will be happy with what looks like a relatively weak pool but the fact they are the underdogs in their opening game against Argentina says everything. If England are to go deep in this competition then they’ll need to really buck their ideas up.

Speaking of Argentina, they should be considered a better shot than England but are priced up at 20/1 to win it all pre-tournament. These two teams meet in their opening game at the weekend and we’ll know plenty about them come full-time in Marseille on Saturday.

The other home nations sides round out the teams shorter than 100/1 with Scotland available to back at 33/1 with the Welsh a 40/1 shot.