The third round of the 2017 Rugby Championship see New Zealand hosting Argentina at Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth and Australia hosting South Africa at Nib Stadium in Perth.
South Africa lead the Rugby Championship standings, New Zealand are second on points difference, Australia are third and Argentina are placed last.
New Zealand v Argentina Championship Rd.3 Preview
New Zealand All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen has made several changes to the team that beat Australia for this weekend’s Rugby Championship match against Argentina’s Pumas.
All Black critics have started suggesting that they have peaked and are on their way down. The Wallabies scored 7 unanswered tries between the first and the second tests. Add in that the British and Irish Lions drew their series in New Zealand and you realise that the All Black aura is not what it was a year ago. The All Blacks are also not selling out stadiums in the way they used to.
Due to this the All Blacks will want to blow Argentina away this weekend to get some of that aura back.
New Zealand and Argetina have played each other 24 times and the South Americans have never beaten the All Blacks in all of those matches. The teams drew in 1985 but since then the All Blacks have won the last 22 matches in succession.
New Zealand have a record of beating Argentina in 96% of their matches.
At the time of writing Argentina had not named their team for this match but as their playing squad is not too big sweeping changes are not expected.
The Bookies have given Argentina a 30 point start for this Match – with an offer of up to $200 in Bonus bets. The All Blacks will be looking to hit back in this match as they have been overtaken in the standings by South Africa and were given a scare by Australia in their last outing. The All Blacks should win this by more than 30 points.
This Match will be shown on TV in NZ (Sky), Aus (Fox Sports), SA (SuperSport)
and in the UK on Sky Sports.
Average score: New Zealand 41 Argentina 14
Last five results
Sat, 01 Oct 2016 New Zealand v Argentina 36-17 River Plate, Buenos Aires
Sat, 10 Sep 2016 New Zealand v Argentina 57-22 Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Sun, 20 Sep 2015 WC Pool C New Zealand v Argentina 26-16 Wembley Stadium, London
Fri, 17 Jul 2015 New Zealand v Argentina 39-18 Rugby League Pk, Christchurch
Sat, 27 Sep 2014 New Zealand v Argentina 34-13 La Plata
New Zealand’s overall record against Argentina
Played 24, Wins 23, Losses 0, Draws 1
Winning percentage = 96%
Match Officials
Referee: Angus Gardner (ARU)
Assistant Ref 1: Nigel Owens (WRU)
Assistant Ref 2: Matthew Carley (RFU)
TMO : George Ayoub (ARU)
Teams
New Zealand
1. Joe Moody, 2. Dane Coles , 3. Nepo Laulala, 4. Luke Romano , 5. Brodie Retallick , 6. Vaea Fifita , 7. Ardie Savea, 8. Kieran Read (c) , 9. TJ Perenara , 10. Beauden Barrett , 11. Nehe Milner-Skudder, 12. Sonny Bill Williams , 13. Anton Lienert-Brown , 14. Israel Dagg (65) 15. Damian McKenzie.
Replacements : 16. Codie Taylor, 17. Wyatt Crockett , 18. Ofa Tu’ungafasi , 19. Scott Barrett , 20. Sam Cane , 21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22. Lima Sopoaga ,23. Ngani Laumape.
Argentina
Joaquin Tuculet, Santiago Cordero, Matias Moroni, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Emiliano Boffelli, Nicolas Sanchez, Tomas Cubelli, Benjamin Macome, Javier Ortega Desio, Pablo Matera, Guido Petti, Matias Alemanno, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Agustin Creevy (c), Lucas Noguera Paz
Replacements: Julian Montoya, Santiago Garcia Botta, Enrique Pieretto, Marcos Kremer, Tomas Lezana, Martin Landajo, Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, Matias Orlando
Australia v South Africa Rugby Championship Rd.3 Preview
Australia started the Rugby Championship struggling but since the second half of the first Test they have improved vastly and even scored 7 unanswered tries over two tests against the All Blacks.
South Africa’s two victories over Argentina have put the Springboks on top of the Rugby Championship standings but they now face much tougher opposition.
This match is expected to come down to a contest of Australia’s backs versus South Africa’s forwards. The Springbok pack won good ball for the South Africans in their first two tests while the Wallabies backs have shined with the little ball they have enjoyed.
Australia have played South Africa 83 times in Super Rugby and they have won 36 matches, lost 46 and drawn one. The one and only draw was in Perth. This gives the Wallabies a record of winning 43% of their matches against South Africa.
These teams have met 8 times in Perth and Australia have won 4 matches, lost three and drawn one. As Australia have won the last two matches the Springboks have not won in Western Australia since 2009.
The match will be played in Perth this weekend where there is a lot of anger for the Australian Rugby Union. Some fans have called for a boycott of the match while other have called for fans to wear their Western Force jerseys to show the ARU how they got it wrong in cutting the Force from Super Rugby. Added to this Perth has a large South African expat population so they usually feel almost like they are playing at home. This weekend after the Force Super Rugby debacle it will be very interesting to see what the make up of the crowd will be.
This Match will be shown on TV in NZ (Sky), Aus (Fox Sports), SA (SuperSport)
and in the UK on Sky Sports.
Average score:Australia 17 South Africa 19
Last five results
Sat, 01 Oct 2016 Australia v South Africa 10-18 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Sat, 10 Sep 2016 Australia v South Africa 23-17 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Sat, 18 Jul 2015 Australia v South Africa 24-20 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Sat, 27 Sep 2014 Australia v South Africa 10-28 Newlands, Cape Town
Sat, 06 Sep 2014 Australia v South Africa 24-23 Subiaco Oval, Perth
Australia’s overall record against South Africa
Played 83 , Wins 36, Losses 46, Draws 1
Winning percentage = 43%%
Match Officials
Referee: Glen Jackson (NZR)
Assistant Ref 1: John Lacey (IRFU)
Assistant Ref 2: Paul Williams (NZR)
TMO : Ben Skeen (NZR)
Teams
Australia
1. Scott Sio, 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3. Sekope Kepu, 4. Rory Arnold, 5. Adam Coleman , 6. Ned Hanigan , 7. Michael Hooper (c), 8. Sean McMahon, 9. Will Genia, 10. Bernard Foley, 11. Reece Hodge, 12. Kurtley Beale , 13. Tevita Kuridrani , 14. Henry Speight, 15. Israel Folau
Replacements :16. Jordan Uelese*, 17. Tom Robertson , 18. Allan Alaalatoa , 19. Rob Simmons, 20. Jack Dempsey , 21. Nick Phipps, 22. Samu Kerevi , 23. Curtis
Rona
* Wallabies debut
South Africa
15. Andries Coetzee , 14. Raymond Rhule , 13. Jesse Kriel , 12. Jan Serfontein , 11. Courtnall Skosan , 10. Elton Jantjies , 9. Ross Cronje , 8. Uzair Cassiem, 7. Jaco Kriel , 6. Siya Kolisi , 5. Pieter-Steph du Toit , 4. Eben Etzebeth (c), 3. Coenie Oosthuizen , 2. Malcolm Marx , 1. Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16. Bongi Mbonambi , 17. Steven Kitshoff , 18. Trevor Nyakane , 19. Lood de Jager , 20. Jean-Luc du Preez , 21. Francois Hougaard, 22. Handre Pollard , 23. Damian de Allende
