Friday's Rugby World Cup action sees Argentina clash with Samoa in Saint-Etienne and it's a game which is crucial to both sides hopes of qualifying from Pool D.
Argentina v Samoa, Friday 22nd September, Saint-Etienne, KO 17:45 (South African time)
Referee: Nic Berry (RA)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Jordan Way (RA)
TMO: Brett Cronan (RA)
Weather Forecast - Saint-Etienne
Argentina:
This is the first match in Pool D this week with England due to face Chile on Saturday and Los Pumas are playing catch up.
Argentina have played just the one match so far, a 27-10 defeat to England on the opening weekend. The game was priced up as “choice” by the bookmakers and England picked up a very early red card and Argentina couldn't make the numerical advantage count. They were 12-3 down at the break and all England's points came from the boot before a late consolation try for Bruni.
Coming into this round of matches England top Pool D with 9 points from 2 matches, Samoa have 5 points from 1 game and Japan have 5 points from 2 games whilst Argentina and Chile have yet to open their account.
After this Argentina will take on Chile and then Japan. In the RWC outright betting Argentina are trading at around 38/1 to win the tournament with BoyleSports and they are 16/1 to top Pool D
Boyle Sports: 20% stake refund if the Boks lose against Ireland (T&C's apply)
Samoa:
Samoa's first action came against Chile last weekend and they won the game 43-10, scoring 5 tries to secure a bonus point. The handicap line of 33.5 points was accurate, Samoa led 19-10 at half time and Sama Malolo (twice), Duncan Paia'aua, Jonathan Taumateine and Fritz Lee scored their tries with Leali'ifano kicking 16 points in total.
Samoa are trading at around 38/1 to top Pool D with BoyleSports and 57/10 to reach the quarter finals. After this they will face Japan and then England provide the opposition in their final pool match.
Team News
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou,8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Pedro Rubiolo, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Lucio Cinti
Samoa: 15 Duncan Paia’aua, 14 Nigel Ah-Wong, 13 UJ Seuteni, 12 Tumua Manu, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Christian Leali’ifano, 9 Jonathan Taumateine, 8 Steven Luatua, 7 Fritz Lee, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Chris Vui (c), 4 Brian Alainu’u’ese, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Seilala Lam, 1 James Lay
Replacements: 16 Sama Malolo, 17 Charlie Faumuina, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Taleni Seu, 20 Sa Jordan Taufua, 21 Melani Matavao, 22 D’Angelo Leuila, 23 Danny Toala
Boyle Sports: Get a 25% payout boost on the Springboks to win the RWC (T&C's apply)
The Betting
07h45 22 Sep
Argentina -12.5 points at 9/10
Samoa +14.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
The money has come for Samoa with the handicap shifting from +14.5 to current levels of +12.5 which is where I set it in my Sunday night handicapping exercise. If you fancy some of the +14.5 it is still available at Hollywood at the time of writing (07h45 22 Sep).
I expect Argentina to get the job done here and if pushed would take the -12.5 but it is the points line where I am going to get involved.
There is some moisture about with chances of showers but also fairly humid conditions and this has me looking at the 49.5 points line.
More important than the conditions is that this is basically a knock out game for both sides and I expect a tight game with 3 pointers being taken (and hopefully missed on occasion) when on offer.
I considered under 5.5 tries at 10/11 at Sportingbet but penalty kicks have been factored into this line already and I will take the 1/1 under 49,5 points with the Betxchange Boost
Stay close to our forum thread where I will post any points plays on this game
BET: 5 units under 49.5 points 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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