The second of Saturday's Rugby Championship matches sees the defending champions New Zealand open their campaign against Argentina in Wellington.
New Zealand v Argentina, Saturday 10th August, Wellington, KO 09:05 (South African time)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia) and Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
Weather Forecast – Wellington
Rugby Championship 2024 Outright Betting
In terms of the outright betting South Africa are 4/6 favourites to win the Rugby Championship title with New Zealand 29/20, Argentina 20/1 and Australia 28/1 (prices World Sports Betting).
New Zealand:
Scott Robertson's first assignment as coach of the All Blacks was a two match home series against England and they had to dig deep to to win both games, 16-15 in the first test and 24-17 in the second. Their most recent outing saw them demolish Fiji 47-5.
The All Blacks won the shortened 2023 Rugby Championship, beating Argentina 41-12 in Mendoza, the Springboks 35-20 in Auckland and the Wallabies 38-7 in Melbourne. They went on to contest the final of RWC 2023 where they were edged out by the Boks.
Looking ahead to the rest of this tournament New Zealand will host Los Pumas again in Round 2 in Auckland before back to back games away to the Boks. In Round 5 they visit the Wallabies before hosting the same opponent in the return in the final round.
Argentina:
Argentina's international schedule in June saw them share a two match home series against France. They lost the first test 28-13 but squared things up with a 33-25 victory in the second contest. After that they put Uruguay away 79-5.
In the 2023 Rugby Championship Argentina went down 41-12 at home to New Zealand, they beat the Wallabies 34-31 in Sydney and lost 22-21 to the Boks in Johannesburg to finish in third spot. They made it to the semi finals of RWC 23 where they were thumped by the All Blacks.
After this Argentina will remain in New Zealand for a Round 2 clash in Auckland before hosting the Wallabies twice in Rounds 3 and 4. In Round 5 they are at home to the Springboks and their final match will see them travel to Nelspruit for the return in South Africa.
Team News
New Zealand: 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 (captain), 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: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Luio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (captain), 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
Recent Head to Head
2023 RWC Paris Argentina 6-44 New Zealand (Semi Final)
2023 RC Mendoza Argentina 12-41 New Zealand
2022 RC Hamilton New Zealand 53-3 Argentina
2022 RC Christchurch New Zealand 18-25 Argentina
2021 RC Brisbane New Zealand 36-13 Argentina
2021 RC Gold Coast New Zealand 39-0 Argentina
2020 TN Newcastle New Zealand 38-0 Argentina
2020 TN Sydney New Zealand 25-15 Argentina
The Betting -
Updated 09 August 10h07
New Zealand -16.5 points at 9/10
Argentina +17.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 09 August 10h07
The handicap was stable at -15.5 for most of the week but the money has now come for the All Blcks who are -16.5 or -17.5 depending on where you shop.
I expect the All Blacks to win comfortably but once again it is a forum post by Mondo that has my attention.
He expects the All Blacks to come flying out of the blocks and I agree.
The halftime handicap is -7.5 at the time of posting and the best price I can find for New Zealand to lead by 8 or more at the break is 1/1.
The Total points line is 50.5 with New Zealand points 34.5 and Argentina 17.5. I am going to wait until closer to kick-off to confirm the weather and you can keep an eye on this article for more bets leading up to the match and the forum where punters post their bets and information.
BET: 3 units New Zealand Halftime Handicap -7.5 at 1/1 at WSB*
*Click here to open your WSB account
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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