The first of the Rugby World Cup semi finals comes from Paris on Friday where Argentina are very much the underdogs for their clash with New Zealand.
Argentina v New Zealand, Friday 20th October, Paris, KO 21:00 (South African time)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Karl Dickson (England)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Weather Forecast - Paris
Argentina:
Los Pumas were 4.5 point underdogs for their quarter final clash with Wales in Marseille but they recovered from conceding the first 10 points of the match to trail 10-6 at half time and in the second half tries from Joel Sclavi on 69 minutes and Nicolas Sanchez on 77 minutes saw them through.
Argentina finished as runners up to England in Pool D and their only defeat came in their opening match, 27-10 to an England side who played almost the whole game with 14 men. Los Pumas then bounced back with a vital 19-10 win over Samoa in their second outing and then thrashed Chile 59-5 to set up an “eliminator” with Japan which they won 39-27 with Mateo Carreras scoring 3 of their 5 tries.
They now take aim at New Zealand who beat them 41-12 in the opening round of the shortened Rugby Championship in Mendoza in July this year.
In the outright betting markets Argentina are now trading at around 34/1 to win the RWC title with BoyleSports.
New Zealand:
New Zealand's quarter final match up with Ireland at this venue was a classic and the All Blacks, who were slight underdogs in the betting, edged it 28-24. They were quickly 13-0 in front with Leicester Fainga'anuku scoring an early try but despite a second try from Ardie Savea their lead was reduced to a single point (18-17) by half time. Will Jordan gave the All Blacks some daylight with his sides third try which came early in the second half and with some heroic defending New Zealand held on.
The All Blacks finished as runners up to France in Pool A. After suffering a first ever RWC pool stage defeat in their opening match of the tournament to host nation France, 27-13 in Paris, the All Blacks rattled up a barrage of points. In their second outing they thrashed Namibia 71-3 and then dished out an even bigger hiding to Italy, 96-17 before a 73-0 win over Uruguay in their final pool match.
New Zealand are now trading at around 1.22/1 (shortened from 3.75/1) to claim a fourth RWC title with BoyleSports who make the Springboks 9/10 favourites.
Recent Head to Head
2023 RC Mendoza Argentina 12-41 New Zealand
2022 RC Hamilton New Zealand 53-3 Argentina
2022 RC Christchurch New Zealand 18-25 Argentina
2021 RC Brisbane New Zealand 36-13 Argentina
2021 RC Gold Coast New Zealand 39-0 Argentina
2020 TN Newcastle New Zealand 38-0 Argentina
2020 TN Sydney New Zealand 25-15 Argentina
Team News
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras; 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou; 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez; 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti; 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matias Moroni
New Zealand: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11. Mark Tele’a, 11 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (captain), 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Samuel Whitelock, 3 Tyrel Lomax , 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Dalton Papali’i, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown
The Betting
19 October 23h15
Argentina +17.5 points at 9/10
New Zealand -17.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
18h30 18 October
The opening call on this game was New Zealand -16.5 and there has been some support for the All Blacks with the line edging out to -17.5 at the time of writing. I am holding back on any bets until the teams are announced but caught up with Hilton Hasson a Director at World Sports Betting to get a feel for where the early money has come "This match has been relatively quiet bar a bit of money for New Zealand over 32.5 points and the Total Points line at 49.5 (priced at 11/10) has also seen some money" - Click here to open an account at WSB who have a R15 000 matched 1st deposit, T&Cs apply
19 October 23h15
The handicap on this game has been stable as has the total points line. There is some rain about early in the day and if pushed I would go unders here but in the end I am going to go for a rare half time play. This All Black side has been quick out of the blocks against Ireland and France and I don't think Arentina will come back at them the way that pair did. I am going to back New Zealand to lead by 8 or more at the break.
Stay close to our forum thread where other punters share their thoughts and bets on RWC and the URC, I will most certainly get involved further before kick off
BET: 4 units New Zealand -7.5 Half Time handicap at 17/20 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Join @BrentGraham and the panel live for “The Handicap” powered by BetXchange. Subscribe to the channel and set a reminder for the next show here.
More tips, news and views are available on the weekly rugby thread on our discussion forum. If you are new to our community you can open an account here.
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
