New Zealand vs Argentina U20 Predictions - New Zealand backed in handicap market

These two have not played in the last two years.

New Zealand got their U20 Rugby Championship off to a decent start last Thursday, scoring in the dying minutes to draw 13-13 against South Africa at home.

It was a game the Junior All Blacks would have felt they could have won, but they threw away numerous try-scoring opportunities in the first half. This was down to the very wet and windy conditions and some strong defence.

Their ball-in-hand approach just didn’t fire in those conditions so they will be hopeful of dry weather this week.

Given the turnaround, the New Zealanders are likely to make quite a few changes to their side.

Argentina is top the Rugby Championship after the first week as they were the only side to win.

In a game played in heavy rainfall on the Sunshine Coast, Argentina got early dominance over Australia and never really let up. Their game, largely forward and set piece orientated, forced the hosts into many errors.

This resulted in Los Pumas scoring three tries and keeping the hosts to just six points. The 25-6 victory will certainly give them confidence ahead of this encounter.

All teams will have to rotate heavily during the tournament with short turnarounds between games. The concern for Argentina will be whether they can match the depth at this level of the other sides.