Argentina vs New Zealand Predictions - Plucky Argentina to challenge All Blacks

While over 80 minutes I believe New Zealand will have enough to reach the final, I do fancy Los Pumas to get inside the 17-point handicap.

In the 36 matches between these sides since 1985, New Zealand have won 33 with one draw and two Argentina wins. They met in the Rugby Championship earlier this year, a match the All Blacks won 41-12.

Argentina finished second in Pool D after losing their World Cup opener to England. They were under pressure after that horrid performance but bounced back well.

It must be said that Argentina were expected to beat Samoa, Chile and Japan, but it was two close games against Japan and Samoa.

In the quarter-final Los Pumas, however, produced a very strong performance to beat Wales. The Welsh looked to have the upper hand in the first 40 minutes, but gradually Argentina started clawing their way back and then dominating.

Los Pumas will still have the home 41-12 loss to New Zealand in July fresh in their minds. The All Blacks blitzed them in the first half, while in the second Argentina were far more competitive.

While they are big underdogs, it will be a big mistake writing off this Argentina side. They have beaten New Zealand twice since 2020 so this is far from a foregone conclusion.

Michael Cheika will announce his side later this week. They are nursing a few injuries from this past weekend so it will touch and go for one or two key players.

New Zealand were a quality side coming into the tournament and until the last week before the tournament the favourites to win it alongside France. However, in their last warm-up game the All Blacks were hammered by South Africa and then they lost their opener to France quite convincingly.

Those two results had many writing off the All Blacks under Ian Foster. While the quality is undoubtedly within their squad, the consistency of the All Blacks has been quite poor over the last four years.

The All Blacks went on to win their remaining three games against Namibia, Uruguay, and Italy to seal second place. That pitted them against the world No. 1 side, Ireland in the quarter-final.

Ireland have been superb in recent years and again many wrote the New Zealanders off, others knew that writing them off is a dangerous game, and so it proved.

The All Blacks were simply incredible against Ireland, winning the match 28-24. It was one of the best games of rugby union and in the end, New Zealand held their nerve to secure their passage through.

What I will say is that the All Blacks, no matter their undoubted quality, will struggle to replicate a performance like that. While they don’t need to play quite as well to beat Argentina, they will be challenged in various areas and will need to be quite careful.

It looked like the All Blacks came through the quarter-final relatively unscathed. Time will tell when they select their side later this week.