RWC Match Day Programme New Zealand vs Argentina

Only four teams remain and tonight, we will find out who will reign supreme and book their ticket into the final set to take place next week. Although both teams suffered deafeats in their opening pool fixtures, they bounced back to secure quarter-final victories last week. Two teams who are very familiar with each other will now lock horns on the world stage, for the chance to face South Africa or England in in Paris. Can Argentina cause the upset? Will New Zealand once again reign supreme? Thank you for joining us, this Ultimate Rugby Match Day, the World Cup Edition.

Fixture: Argentina vs New Zealand  

Venue: Stade de France, St. Dennis, France

Kickoff Time: 20:05 (GMT)

Referee: Angus Gardner

Head-to-head Played:

Played: 36

New Zealand Wins: 33

Argentina Wins: 2

Draws: 1

Rugby World Cup Head-to-Head 

Played: 3

New Zealand Wins: 3

Argentina: 0

Draws: 0

Points for:

New Zealand: 1,390

Italy: 500

Biggest winning margin:

New Zealand: 85 ( 29 September 1997)

Argentina: 10 (14 Novemeber 2020)

World Cup Results

New Zealand

L 27-13 v France

W 71-3 v Namibia

W 96-17 v Italy

W 73-0 v Uruguay

W 24-28 v Ireland (QF)

Argentina

L 27-10 v England

W 19-10 v Samoa

W 59-5 v Chile

W 39-27 v Japan

W 29-17 v Wales

Referee:  Angus Gardner

Debut as Referee: 2011

Tests as Referee: 41

RWC Games as Referee: 4

Team News:

New Zealand: Head coach Ian Foster has made two changes to his starting XV from their 28-24 victory against Ireland, with Sam Whitelock replacing Brodie Retallick in the second-row and Mark Telea replacing Leicester Fainga’anuku on the left wing. There are 12 survivors in the match-day team from their RWC 2019 semi-final loss against England – Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett, Ardie Savea, Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga, Anton LienertBrown, Codie Taylor and captain Sam Cane. 

Argentina: Head coach Michael Cheika has made only one change to his match-day team from the side that defeated Wales 29-17, recalling Gonzalo Bertranou ahead of Tomás Cubelli. There are four changes to their forward pack and two to their back-line from the starting XV that lost 41-12 against the All Blacks in Mendoza on 7 August, 2022, but Cheika has retained the same halves pairing of Gonzalo Bertranou and Santiago Carreras. 

• Both teams have climbed up the World Rugby rankings powered by Capgemini, with New Zealand moving into second for the first time since 21 August, 2022 and Argentina climbing one place into seventh.

• This is the first time a seventh-ranked team have reached the RWC semi-finals since the system was introduced in 2003. England were sixth in their semi-final in 2007.

• This will be only the second semi-final in RWC history, and first since 2007 between England and France, to feature two teams who finished second in their pool.

• The All Blacks were undefeated in their first 29 tests against Argentina between 1985 and 2019 with 28 wins and one draw. The Pumas ended their winless streak in the 2020 TriNations with a 25-15 victory at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney.

• One year, nine months and 13 days following this maiden victory in Sydney, Los Pumas then won their first test against the All Blacks in New Zealand, with a seven-point win in Christchurch on 27 August, 2022.

• Los Pumas have only led the All Blacks at half-time on five occasions since 1985 and have converted just one of these leads into victory, in 2020.

• Both of Argentina’s test victories have come when they have held the All Blacks to fewer than 20 points in a test. Conversely, they have only won two of eight tests when scoring more than 20 points in the match.

• The All Blacks have scored five tries or more in their past two, and five of their past seven matches against Argentina since the start of 2020.

• Only five of the 36 previous tests between these two teams have been decided by a margin of seven points or fewer. The All Blacks’ average winning margin since 1987 has been 27.5 points, while Los Pumas’ wins have been by 10 and seven points respectively.