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Argentina are out of the World Cup. Los Pumas fell to New Zealand in the Semi Final in Paris, France on Friday. The outcome means that the one hope for a new finalist at a Rugby World Cup is over. Three-time champions New Zealand will face either three-time champions South Africa or one-time champions England in the final.
It started well for Argentina. Good attack saw waves from the South Americans inside the All Blacks’ half. They came away with a penalty which Emiliano Boffelli landed.
New Zealand rebounded rapidly with the forwards winning maul penalties to set-up an attacking five meter lineout. A series of raids saw New Zealand go close. The ball then went wide with Will Jordan over for a simple try. It was his first of three in the Semi Final.
A second All Blacks try came five minutes later. This time Jordie Barrett was over. The 12-3 lead at the end of the opening quarter was not too different to Argentina’s first-half deficit against Wales in the Quarter Final.
Argentina was able to come back against Wales but not so against New Zealand. Boffelli landed his second penalty before a penalty from Richie Mo’unga made it 12-6 late in the first-half.
Argentine Coach Michael Cheika was not impressed with the officiating. One one glaring occasion Angus Gardner did not yellow card New Zealand for diving on the ball off their feet less than five meters out from their own try zone. This incident saw Boffelli landing his second penalty.
The second-half was a different game. New Zealand did all the scoring. Argentina were frustrated and off their game while the All Blacks were both brilliant and brutal. Will Jordan scored twice as did Shannon Frizell. Aaron Smith scored first though. His 42nd minute score was game-over.
Argentina now await the loser of the second Semi Final. Los Pumas are expecting to face England with South Africa being the red-hot favorites to face New Zealand in the Final. This is so despite England being the only Semi Finalist that went undefeated in the pool stage.
SCORING
NEW ZEALAND (44)
Try – W Jordan 3 (11′, 62′, 73′), J Barrett (16′), S Frizell 2 (42′, 49′), A Smith (42′)
Con – R Mo’unga (12′, 43′, 50′)
Pen – R Mo’unga (31′)
YC – S Barrett (65′)
ARGENTINA(6)
Pen – E Boffelli 2 (5′, 31′)
TEAMS
NEW ZEALAND
1 Ethan de Groot, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Samuel Whitelock, 5 Scott Barrett, 6 Shannon Frizell, 7 Sam Cane (Capt.), 8 Ardie Savea, 9 Aaron Smith, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 11 Mark Tele’a, 12 Jordie Barrett, 13 Rieko Ioane, 14 Will Jordan, 15 Beauden Barrett
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
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 Gonzalo Bertranou, 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
vs
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Angus Gardner (AU)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (AU) and Karl Dickson (UK)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (UK)
