New Zealand will be out for revenge when they take on Argentina in Hamilton on Saturday and we take a look at this crucial Rugby Championship match from a betting angle.
Argentina currently top the Rugby Championship log level on points with Australia with 9 from 3 matches. New Zealand are on 5 points and South Africa on 4 and looking at the latest Outright Betting New Zealand have drifted to 8/11 with Australia 11/4, South Africa 9/2 and you can get 12/1 about Argentina.
Click Here for Outright Betting
New Zealand’s first two games were in South Africa where they lost 26-10 in Nelspruit before bouncing back strongly to beat South Africa 35-23 in Johannesburg. Bookmakers made them good things last week against Argentina where they started 21 point favourites and even when they led by just 3 points at the break, Argentina were still on offer at 9/1 to win the game. Win the game they did though and they sent New Zealand rugby into further crisis with a 25-18 victory.
Argentina had opened their campaign with a 15 point loss at home to Australia and that after leading the match with 55 minutes gone. They stormed back strongly in the next game though winning 48-17 and then backed that up against New Zealand last week.
Both matches between these sides last season took place in Australia ending in comfortable All Black victories.
Bookmakers are certainly giving Argentina much more respect this week and the current line is 11.5 points with New Zealand favourites of course. I certainly expected more changes in the New Zealand side, but Foster has stuck with his squad while Cheika on the other hand has made a few changes.
TEAMS
New Zealand: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 David Havili, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (captain), 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Sam Whitelock, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Ethan de Groot.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Dalton Papali’i, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Quinn Tupaea
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 23 Lucio Cinti
BETTING – Click here to bet
New Zealand 2/11
Draw 33/1
Argentina 5/1
Suggested Bet: Handicap, New Zealand -11.5 at 9/10
We have seen plenty of bounce back in International Rugby in recent times and I think we are going to see another one here. New Zealand looked very good in patches in the first-half last week and I am not sure that Argentina can match that defensive intensity they showed. All Blacks to win by 12 points or more is my call.
There are no try scorer bets out yet, but I fancy Will Jordan to score a try at any time on the wing and I am hoping to get that around the 15/10 mark.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
