Nkululeko Mcuma
The first of two semi-finals see’s an all-Southern Hemisphere clash where the Argentines take on the 3-time World Cup winning All Blacks.
Both teams will know a lot about each other as they face off on a regular basis these days in the Rugby Championship.
Argentina took on a tricky Welsh outfit and as expected, the match was a close contest where the kickers had a busy afternoon, and the half-time score was 10-6 to Wales. The South Americans seemed to have more in the tank in the second half and pulled away thanks to a well-read interception try by replacement fly-half Nicolas Sanchez. Final score was 29-17 to Argentina.
New Zealand had it all to do against the world number 1 ranked Irish team. The All Blacks were up for this game and came out firing, rushing to an 11-0 lead early in the first half. Ireland didn’t go away and had opportunities to put more points on the board. Despite going down to 10 men twice due to yellow cards to Aaron Smith and Codie Taylor, the All Blacks were able to repel wave after wave of Irish attack to hold out for a well deserved 28-24 victory.
I think New Zealand will be heavy favourites to advance to the final here but as we have already seen, anything can happen in this tournament. New Zealand have the phycological edge over Argentina as they have won 4 of the last 5 encounters between the two Southern Hemisphere nations and the scorelines in those victories are tough viewing for any Argentine supporters.
Scoring in increments of 3 won’t win Argentina this game in my opinion, they need to be brave and execute their attacking structures perfectly to have a chance. The All-Blacks intensity and tempo might prove one hurdle too far for the spirited Argentinians.
Standout Players NZ: Ardie Savea and Jordie Barrett.
Standout Players ARG: Emilliano Boffelli and Marcos Kremer.
Prediction: New Zealand by more than 10.