Emiliano Boffelli has a very clear idea what Argentina need to do to win their semi-final against New Zealand. “It’s very simple,” he said with a grin. “We need to be perfect. That’s it. To beat the All Blacks we need to play the perfect game. And I have faith that we will.”
Boffelli is drawing on the memory of Argentina’s win in Christchurch in August 2022, only their second in 36 games against the All Blacks. “Every man made every tackle, and once they had done it, got right back to his feet and back in his position again, where he needed to be. Our defence was perfect then, and I have faith it will be again,” he said.
Michael Cheika, Argentina’s head coach, has made only one change to the 23 that beat Wales in the quarter-finals, bringing the Dragons scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou into the starting XV ahead of Tomás Cubelli. “It’s not a change,” Cheika said. “It’s more of a continuation of what we did last week.” Fifteen of this 23 played in that game in Christchurch last year.
Cheika said his work in the days since the win against Wales has been less to do with inspiring motivation among the players than instilling a sense of belief – “building that winning mentality”. For him, the value of Christchurch wasn’t in the result – “You can’t say that one game means we can do it as there are a lot of games where we haven’t” – but the fact that the players involved in it now know exactly what it takes to beat the All Blacks.
“When the heat comes on,” Cheika said, “that’s when you need to draw on those experiences, when they’re coming at you, and you think: ‘I’ve felt this before and I know what to do.’
“New Zealand have always been the benchmark in world rugby. We know exactly what challenge they present. History is against us. We know that. Everyone is expecting that New Zealand v South Africa will be the final. We know that, too. Well, it’s down to us to change that.”
He’s right. Argentina are 10-1 against to win this semi-final and 40-1 to win the World Cup. While everyone else sees a team that has scraped their way through, Cheika sees one improving week by week, building towards this moment. Strange things happen in semi-finals and if the forecast is right this one will be played in pouring rain, too. “That will change things,” Cheika said. “The rain affects the details of the game plan, but the important things remain the same.”
Argentina team to face New Zealand
Mallia, Boffelli, Cinti, Chocobares, M Carreras; S Carreras, Bertranou; Gallo, Montoya, Kodela, Petti, Lavanini, Gonzalez, Kremer, Isa. Replacements Creevy, Sclavi, Bello, Alemanno, Bruni, Velez, Sanchez, Moroni.
The gap between the performances of the two teams in the quarter-finals made it all seemed so straightforward last weekend, as if this match was inevitable, and some of the New Zealanders, and to a lesser extent, the South Africans, here in France have been talking as though they are bound to contest the final. But you can feel the tension increasing as the games grow closer. There are no easy-beats in the final four, and anyone who thinks otherwise may be in for a surprise.
Julián Montoya, the captain, said: “This is the moment to play the game of our lives, we are prepared, we have all the weapons we need ready. We’ve beaten them before, and we know we can do it again.”
