Argentina host Australia in Round 3 of the Rugby Championship in Buenos Aires as Saturday night turns into Sunday morning and Los Pumas start as the bookmakers favourites.
Argentina v Australia, Sunday 1st September, Johannesburg, KO 00:00 (South African time)
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR), Pierre Brousset (FFR)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZR)
Weather Forecast – Buenos Aires
Argentina:
Argentina return to home soil after playing the All Blacks twice in New Zealand. They were 16.5 point underdogs for the opening match in Wellington but sprang a big surprise in coming out on top 38-30. Santiago Carreras landed 7 of his 8 shots at goal in Wellington in Round 1. Los Pumas “won” the try count 4-3 with Cinti, Mateo Carreras, Molina and Creevy all going over.
The Round 2 clash in Auckland was a totally different story with the All Blacks racing into a 35-3 half time lead and in wet conditions the scoring eased up with the final score being 42-10.
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.
After this Argentina host the Springboks and their final match will see them travel to Nelspruit for the return in South Africa.
Australia:
The Wallabies are searching for their first log points of the tournament after two defeats at home to the Springboks. They were given around 10.5 points start on the handicap for the Round 1 clash with the Boks in Brisbane but plus backers were up against it from early in the game and the Wallabies crashed to a 33-7 defeat.
The Round 2 clash in Perth was played in difficult conditions but South Africa won it 30-12, covering a pre-match handicap that settled at around 12.5 points and scoring 4 unanswered tries.
In the shortened version of Rugby Championship 2023 the Wallabies lost all 3 of their matches, to the Boks 43-12 in Pretoria, to Argentina in Sydney (34-31) and to New Zealand in Melbourne (38-7).
Looking ahead to the rest of this tournament Australia will finish up at home and then away to the All Blacks.
Team News
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Santiago Cordero, 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 (vice captain), 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (captain),1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Tomas Lavanini, 21 Santiago Grondona, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Tomas Albarnoz
Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell.
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Isaac Kailea, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen
Recent Head to Head
2023 RC Sydney Australia 31–34 Argentina
2022 RC San Juan Argentina 48-17 Australia
2022 RC Mendoza Argentina 26-41 Australia
2021 RC Gold Coast (Aus) Australia 32–17 Argentina
2021 RC Townsville (Aus) Australia 27–9 Argentina
2020 Tri Nations Sydney Australia 16–16 Argentina
2020 Tri Nations Newcastle Australia 15–15 Argentina
The Betting -
Argentina -7.5 points at 9/10
Australia +8.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap has been stable all week at Argentina -7.5 and I don’t think we will get any big movements before kick off.
The Oracle made Argentina on the minus his best bet on last nights The Handicap show and there were plenty in the live chat that agreed.
I am reluctant to pull the trigger though and the return of Taniela Tupou at tight head for Aus is a big plus in my book especially given how the Puma scrum battled in New Zealand.
There was a points line of 52.5 floating around and given expected rain I was looking for an unders play but the lines are down at the moment and I will add any points bets to this preview closer to the start of the game.
For now an interest that neither team wins the match by 7 points or more.
Click here for our Currie Cup plays for the weekend
BET: 2 units “Winning 8+ Margin” either team by 7 or less including draw at 1.45/1 at Betxchange
Posted 31 August 22h33
Conditions sound like they will be poor and he points line is now 45.5 or 46.5 depending on where you shop.
I am not going to get involved but will shout home the either team by7 or less bet and will have an interest in the draw.
BET: 0.5 units the draw at 26/1 at Betxchange
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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