Olympic Rugby Betting Odds: Big Matchups In Union 7s

• Team USA has +200 long odds to beat South Africa in Rugby Union 7s at the Tokyo Olympics.
• New Zealand is the favorite to win the gold medal.
• New Zealand is also -370 favorites to beat Australia in Union 7s.

TOKYO – The Olympics continue to see major betting lines at online sportsbooks with Olympic Rugby Union 7s hosting major action.

New Zealand sits as the current favorite to win the gold medal and as the heavy favorite to win its match against Australia. Team USA is the underdog in its upcoming game against South Africa, but the USA might be a great dark horse big for longshot Olympic betting fans.

USA Dark Horse

The USA has recently qualified for the knockout stage of the Rugby 7s event at the Tokyo Olympics after going 2-0 in the qualifying stages. The USA missed out on the qualifiers in 2016.

The USA had improved greatly since failing to qualify in 2016, ranking as high as number 2 in the world in 2020.

The star of this rugby team is Carlin Isles. Isles, formerly of the Detroit Lions, is the fastest athlete in Rugby, running a 4.13 40-yard dash and running a 100m with a fast enough time to qualify for the Olympics.

With Isles alongside other big names like Perry Baker, Brett Thompson, and Cody Melphy, this may be a great pick for underdog betting fans to pull the upset.

In addition to taking the USA’s +700 odds to win, betting on their knockout game against South Africa could also net major wins.

The USA is poised to pull the upset in this round. South Africa did destroy Kenya in their matchup 14-5 but the USA is an overall better team than Kenya. Isles will surely be a problem for South African defenders to deal with.

New Zealand Heavy Favorite

The team that most betting fans expect to win it all is New Zealand. Not only do they have +185 short odds to take the gold, but their matchup against Australia is extremely one-sided according to legal sports betting sites.

New Zealand did not claim a medal in 2016 but instead lost in the quarter-finals to Japan. This time around, New Zealand has already shown that this is an entirely new team in Tokyo.

New Zealand is the current World Rugby Seven Series Champions and this is the same team that is competing in the Olympics.

Tim Mikkelson and Scott Curry are the co-captains of the New Zealand squad. Curry was the captain of the 2016 Olympic squad who failed to medal and Mikkelson is the most capped 7s player in history.

The squad will surely be a problem for every team in Tokyo.

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