The first of Sunday's Rugby World Cup matches comes from Nantes where Japan face off with Argentina to determine which of these nations will qualify from Pool D.
Japan v Argentina, Sunday 8th October, Nantes, KO 13:00 (South African time)
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Paul Williams (NZR), James Doleman (NZR)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZR)
Weather Forecast – Nantes
Japan:
England are already assured of top spot in this pool and unless Samoa thrash the English on Saturday any winner of this game will take the runners up spot. Both Japan and Argentina have 9 log points, should this match be a draw bonus points would come into it whilst points difference currently favours Los Pumas (+46 to Japan's +14).
Japan came through a huge match with Samoa with a 28-22 victory last weekend. They started the game as 6.5 point underdogs and were 17-8 up at half time. A red card for Samoa in the second half helped Japan's cause and they held on for the win.
Japan took on RWC debutants Chile in their opening match and they recorded a 42-12 victory but they couldn't follow up against England in their second outing, a game they lost 34-12.
Argentina:
Argentina suffered a 27-10 defeat to 14 man England in what was a “choice” opening game but they bounced back with a vital 19-10 win over Samoa in their second outing. Last weekend they thrashed Chile 59-5 to pick up their first bonus point of the tournament and set up this “decider”.
In the RWC outright betting Argentina are trading at around 11/2 with BoyleSports to crash out here and fail to reach the quarter finals whilst they are 41/1 shots to win the tournament.
Team News
Japan: 15 Lomano Lemeki, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Siosaia Fifita, 10 Rikiya Matsuda, 9 Naoto Saito, 8 Kazuki Himeno (c), 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Amato Fakatava, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 3 Jiwon Gu, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Warner Dearns, 20 Amanaki Saumaki, 21 Kenta Fukuda, 22 Ryohei Yamanaka, 23 Jone Naikabula
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 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, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matías Moroni
The Betting
Japan +13.5 points at 9/10
Argentina -12.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap opened +14.5 and there has been some money for Japan with +12.5 and +13.5 now available.
I am a bit late the with the business end of this preview as it is a game that has had me scratching my head. I was impressed with Japan against Samoa while Argentina have surprisingly failed to fire in this tournament.
I expect a real battle early on but I am expecting Argentina to get the upper hand and to kick on and beat this handicap.
Stay close to our forum thread where I will post any additional bets and other punters share their plays
BET: 4 units Argentina -12.5 at 1/1 at Betxchange (Using the Boost , 5k max, can’t use in multiples)
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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