New Zealand vs Argentina Preview & Prediction | 2024 Rugby Championship | Round 1
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After narrowly losing last year’s World Cup final, New Zealand will have their eyes on silverware this year and will look to land a statement win in their Rugby Championship opener against Argentina.
START DATE/TIME: UK – Saturday 10th August, 2024 – 8:05am / US ET – 3:05am / US PT – 12:05am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – Not televised
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – FloRugby
NEW ZEALAND FORM: 100% WIN RATE SO FAR FOR ROBERTSON
Scott Robertson continues his tenure as All Blacks coach as he oversees his first Rugby Championship. New Zealand are unbeaten since Robertson took over ahead of the summer internationals with two hard-fought wins over England followed by a commanding victory over Fiji.
New Zealand have dominated the Rugby Championship and have won each of the last four editions of the tournament, but they are still carrying some disappointment from their defeat in the World Cup final to South Africa last year.
LAST FIVE: WLWWW
ARGENTINA FORM: TRANSITIONAL PHASE FOR THE PUMAS
Argentina also have a new man at the helm with Felipe Contepomi taking over in the lead-up to the summer internationals. It was a disappointing start with defeat to an under-strength French side, but the Pumas defeated the same opponents a week later and obliterated Uruguay 79-5 in their most recent Test.
Traditionally the weakest side in the competition since they joined in 2012, Argentina have, however, achieved some notable results over the years, including a defeat of New Zealand on home soil in 2022, but they will be up against it from the off here.
LAST FIVE: LLLWW
NEW ZEALAND TEAM NEWS
SQUAD: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Mark Tele'a, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Ardie Savea (c), 7 Dalton Papali'i, 6 Ethan Blackadder, 5 Sam Darry, 4 Tupou Vaa'i, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan De Groot
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Rieko Ioane, 23 Will Jordan
ARGENTINA TEAM NEWS
SQUAD: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Ignacio Ruiz, 1 Thomas Gallo
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Efrain Elias, 20 Tomas Lavanini, 21 Joaquin Oviedo, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Tomas Albornoz
NEW ZEALAND VS ARGENTINA PREDICTION
This is a first meeting between the two sides since last year’s World Cup semi-final in which New Zealand were comfortable winners, and a similar outcome would not be a surprise here given the relative mismatch of talent on show.
Argentina are certainly one of the top rugby nations these days but they generally struggle to contain the cream of the crop. Wins against New Zealand are rare indeed and they don’t look capable right now of repeating their success over the All Blacks in 2022.
The reigning Rugby Championship title trophy holders will be determined to make a strong start to their title defence, and can make a big statement with a convincing win over the Pumas.
NEW ZEALAND VS ARGENTINA TIP: NEW ZEALAND TO WIN WITH -18 HANDICAP
