Argentina host South Africa in the Rugby Championship on Saturday night and both teams are still in with a shout of winning the Tournament.
After Thursday’s thrilling Rugby Championship encounter New Zealand are 4 points clear of Australia at the top of the table with South Africa and Argentina both a point behind. Looking at the latest betting New Zealand are now 11/20 with South Africa 15/10, you can get 28/1 Argentina and the Wallabies are rank outsiders at 100/1.
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Argentina return home after mixed results on their travels. They opened their campaign with an excellent 25-18 win over New Zealand only to be hammered 53-3 by the same opposition last time out. Earlier in the campaign they had lost their opening game to Australia at home before storming back to grab a convincing victory in the second encounter.
South Africa have had a similar mixed bag of results and will be coming into this game on a high after a convincing 24-8 win over Australia last time out, that having been a bounce back from a 25-17 defeat to the same Aussies in Adelaide the week before.
South Africa opened their campaign at home to New Zealand with a 16 point win in Nelspruit followed by a 12 point defeat in Johannesburg.
South Africa have had the better of recent head-to-head encounters between the sides and won both games in South Africa last season by margins of 19 and 20 points respectively. These sides last met in Argentina in 2018 when it was the home side that won 32-19.
TEAMS
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Lucio Cinti, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 23 Matias Moroni.
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Retshegofaditswe Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Albertus Smith, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Francois Steyn
BETTING – Click here to bet
Argentina 27/10
Draw 22/1
South Africa 37/100
Handicap: Argentina +7.5
Suggested Bet: Handicap, South Africa -7.5 at 1/1
Both of these teams have put themselves in with a real shout at winning the Tournament if they can grab a bonus point victory here and I am expecting South Africa to get on top of Argentina as the game progresses and once out in front to build their lead and beat the handicap.
I think the Boks will revert to their forward strength to win this one and I like the chances of Malcolm Marx to score the first try at 11/1
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
