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It is Los Pumas vs the Dragons for a place in the World’s Final Four. Both Argentina and Wales have been there before; this time one will earn he right to play in the Semi Finals by beating a different team to that of past campaigns.
The teams have a relatively short history; they first met at the second Rugby World Cup. They met again in the fourth Rugby World Cup. Their meeting this time is the first between the teams in the knock-out rounds of a World Cup.
Both Argentina and Wales lost a key back-rower last weekend. The World Cup ended for both Pablo Matera and Taulupe Faletau. Both men have previously played in Rugby World Cup Semi Finals.
Matera left the field early in Nantes. Argentina was forced to shift-around players as second-rower Matías Alemanno replaced the flanker. It was not the first such instance during this World Cup as Michael Cheika’s replacement selections have not seen all positions covered by specialists.
There was no back-up fly half for the opener against England. George Ford end Man-of-the-Match in a 27-10 win. Argentina recovered from that dark evening in Marseille to defeat Samoa 19-10 in St Étienne, Chile 59-5 in Nantes and Japan 39-27 also in Nantes. Mateo Carreras’ three tries against Japan are the third hat-trick by a Puma in RWC history.
Michael Cheika has retained Mateo Carreras and thirteen others who started against Japan. The changes are three, however, as Juan Martín González moves from N8 to his natural position of flanker. González does so to cover for the loss of Matera.
The vacancy at N8 goes to Facundo Isa. His explosive ball-carrying and defense will be welcomed by Argentines and neutral alike. The remaining change is tactical; Tomás Cubelli replaces Gonzalo Bertranou at scrum-half.
The option of Cubelli is for cleaner distribution and organization from the base of the rucks. It sees Major League Rugby having a World Cup Quarter Finalist; Cubelli will join the Miami Sharks for MLR 2024. It also means Bertranou misses out on playing against player he knows well; Bertranou plays for Welsh region the Dragons in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
Cubelli joins Santiago Carreras in the halves. They will be the play-makers. There have been calls for Nicolás Sánchez to start but Cheika is sticking to his guns. Toulouse and Saracens combine with Santiago Chococobares and Lucio Cinti again starting in the mid-field ahead of veterans Jerónimo de la Fuente and Matías Moroni.
The back-three will again be Mateo Carreras, Emiliano Boffelli and Juan Cruz Mallía. Boffelli will be the goal-kicker from the right wing. Matías Moroni will cover wing and center while Lautaro Bázan Vélez and Nicolás Sánchez are the replacement scrum-half and fly half respectively.
The back-row see Isa joining González and Marcos Kremer. This is in contrast to Wales’ mobile selections. Argentina have opted for big carriers and defenders and have more to call-upon with Rodrigo Bruni as a replacement.
The front-five his unchanged. Thomas Gallo, Julián Montoya, and veteran Francisco Gómez Kodela will be the futon-row with Guido Petti, and Tomás Lavanini in the second-row. Petti and González will be Argentina’s main lineout targets and also keen on winning Welsh ball against the throw.
González and Kremer are the two men who have started all matches for Los Pumas at the tournament. It is the first Quarter Final for both players. Meanwhile, nine of the twenty-three played against Ireland in the 2015 Quarter Final win over Ireland in Cardiff. They are Matías Alemanno, Agustín Creevy, Julián Montoya, Tomas Lavanini, Guido Petti, Facundo Isa, Tomás Cubelli, Nicolás Sanchez and Matías Moroni.
Ten of the starting XV also started against Wales in 2022. The changes see Agustín Creevy, Matías Alemanno, Pablo Matera, Gonzalo Bertranou, Jerónimo de la Fuente, and Matías Moroni replaced. The replacements bench is very different. None of Ignacio Ruiz, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Lucas Paulos, Eliseo Morales, Tomás Albornoz, and Matías Orlando will feature in the Quarter Final.
Wales won the 2022 match against Argentina but they lost at home against Georgia. This saw Wayne Pivac fired and Warren Gatland brought back from New Zealand. Despite saying he would not have taken the job had he known the extent of Wales’ problems, Gatland has been able to turn the team around.
Wales won Pool C, doing so by going unbeaten through the group stage. The Dragons opened with a 32-26 win over Fiji in Bordeaux. They were then frustrated by Portugal before securing a 28-8 win in Nice. Wales put in their best performance against Australia; in a humiliating loss for the 1991 and 1999 World Champions, Australia fell to a 40-6 defeat in Lyon. Wales finished by beating Georgia 43-19 in Nantes.
Gatland has made six changes to his line-up to that which featured against Georgia in Nantes. Three come in the forwards and three in the backs. The loss of Taulupe Faletau sees Aaron Wainwright returning to play N8. He is very experienced with 42 previous caps including playing in the Quarter Final four years ago against France.
Wainwright will join Tommy Reiffell and captain Jack Morgan in the back-row. It is a new-look trio with three mobile players selected. Reiffelll earned his spot after impressing against Georgia. This has seen regular captain moving from open side to blindside flanker; though, it means Wales is playing without a blindside.
Adam Beard will play second-row after missing the game against Georgia for strategic reasons. He will be a key component of Wales’ lineout against Los Pumas. Beard will partner Will Rowlands in the engine room. Rowlands is Wales’ leading tackler with 49 completed. He is also the primary lineout option with 13 wins and two more won against the throw.
Another change sees Ryan Elias starting at hooker with Dewi Lake named on the bench. Elias will partner Gareth Thomas and Tomas Francis in the front-row.
Other team changes come in the halves. Gatland has opted for the tried and tested; Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar return together. Biggar is back from injury. Meanwhile, Josh Adams returns to play on the wing as the final change.
Davies and Biggar will have the vastly experienced George North sth them in the backs. North will play in a Welsh-record fourth Rugby World Cup Quarter Final. He will play center with Adams and Louis Rees-Zammitt playing on the wings.
Rees-Zammitt is the one Welsh player to have started in every match for the Dragons in the tournament. Wales will be looking for plenty of attack spark from him. The Dragons also have veteran fullback Liam Williams fit to play. He had been in doubt earlier in the week.
The run-on XV is very different to the formation that faced Argentina in Cardiff, Wales in November 2022. The six retained players from that day are loose head Gareth Thomas, second-rowers Will Rowlands and Adam Beard, centers Nick Tompkins and George North and Louis Rees-Zammit who played that match at fullback.
Argentina and Wales split the results since Rugby World Cup 2019. Wales was due to tour South America in 2021, including facing Uruguay, but the tour was cancelled. Instead, Wales hosted Argentina twice in 2021 and once in 2022. The teams competed to a 20-20 draw with Argeina playing with 14 men before Argentina won 31-12 to win the 2021 series. Wales got revenge with a 20-13 win in 2022.
ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Matías Moroni
WALES
1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Will Rowlands, 5 Adam Beard, 6 Jac Morgan (Capt.), 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 9 Gareth Davies, 10 Dan Biggar, 11 Josh Adams, 12 Nick Tompkins, 13 George North, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 15 Liam Williams
Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Dafydd Jenkins, 20 Christ Tshiunza, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Rio Dyer
Rugby World Cup 2023 – Quarter Final – Argentina vs Wales
Date: Saturday, October 14
Kick-Off: 12pm (AR)
Venue: Stade Velodrome (Marseille, FR)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (ZA)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (UK); Andrea Picardy (IT)
TMO: Marius Jonker (ZA)
vs
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-11-12 Wales 20-13 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2021-07-17 Wales 13-31 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2021-07-10 Wales 20-20 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2018-06-16 Argentina 12-30 Wales (Santa Fé, Argentina)
2018-06-09 Argentina 10-23 Wales (San Juan, Argentina)
2016-11-12 Wales 24-20 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2013-11-26 Wales 40-06 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2012-11-10 Wales 12-26 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2011-08-20 Wales 28-13 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2009-11-21 Wales 33-16 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2007-08-18 Wales 27-20 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
2006-06-17 Argentina 45-27 Wales (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2006-06-11 Argentina 27-25 Wales (Puerto Madryn, Argentina)
2004-06-19 Argentina 20-35 Wales (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2004-06-12 Argentina 50-44 Wales (Tucumán, Argentina)
2001-11-10 Wales 16-30 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales)
1999-10-01 Wales 23-18 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales) *
1999-06-12 Argentina 16-23 Wales (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1999-06-05 Argentina 26-36 Wales (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1998-11-21 Wales 43-30 Argentina (Llanelli, Wales)
1991-10-09 Wales 16-07 Argentina (Cardiff, Wales) *
* Rugby World Cup Fixture
