The first of three Rugby World Cup matches taking place on Saturday comes from Pool C where Argentina clash with Tonga at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashiosaka
Argentina v Tonga, Saturday 28th September, Higashiosaka, KO 06:45 (South African time)
Weather Forecast – Higashiosaka
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant Referees: Ben O Keeffe, Brendon Pickerill
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Argentina
Los Pumas began their campaign with a crunch game against France last Saturday, it proved to be the closest of the first round of pool matches and Argentina lost it 23-21. Argentina started the game as marginal underdogs and they were decidedly second best in the opening 40 minutes, going into the break 20-3 down. The second half fightback brought tries for Guido Petti Pagadizabal and Julian Montoya and Argentina led 21-20 heading into the closing stages. A drop goal put France back in front and there was more drama to come in the shape of a long range Argentine penalty attempt at the death which failed to land.
Los Pumas had to settle for a losing bonus point and they have now lost each of their last 10 matches. They still have Pool C favourites England to face and if you shop around you can get 150/1 (from 50/1) for Argentina to win this tournament and 7/2 for them to qualify for the quarter finals.
Tonga
Tonga's first action of the tournament came against England in the Sapporo Dome on Sunday. They came into that game as underdogs with the handicap settling at more than 40 points but they gave a good account of themselves despite going down 35-3.
Tonga's only points came from an early Takulua penalty which at the time levelled the scores at 3-3. They trailed 18-3 at the half time interval and stuck to their task to the end, benefiting from a number of England handling errors, but unable to add any more points to the scoreboard.
Given Tonga had conceded 92 points to the All Blacks in a recent warm up game they exceeded many punters expectations against England but if they are to get back in contention they will need to upset Argentina here and then pull off another shock against France.
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Line Ups
Argentina: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Santiago Carreras, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Tomas Lezana, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Bautista Delguy
Tonga: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Viliami Lolohea, 13 Malietoa Hingano, 12 Siale Piutau (c), 11 David Halaifonua, 10 James Faiva, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Zane Kapeli, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Halaleva Fifita, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 1 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi
Replacements: 16 Sosefo Sakalia, 17 Vunipola Fifita, 18 Ma’afu Fia, 19 Sitiveni Mafi, 20 Nasi Manu, 21 Leon Fukofuka, 22 Latiume Fosita, 23 Cooper Vuna
Head to Head
The teams have met just once before and that came in RWC 2015 in Leicester where Argentina won 45-15 (ht 20-13) scoring 5 tries to Tonga's 2.
Betting - Handicap
Argentina -27.5 points at 9/10
Tonga +27.5 points at 9/10
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Quotes are an average of what was on offer from a selection of bookmakers at the time of writing and are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Argentina will be bitterly disappointed by the defeat to France which in all likelihood means a group exit. They may well come out breathing fire but I think their morale may have taken a knock and will have an interest in Tonga beating the handicap.
Bet: 3 units Tonga +29.5 at 9/10 at Hollywoodbets
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