Wales v Argentina
Four Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, four massive north v south eliminators. Knockout rugby has frequently brought the best out of Wales under Warren Gatland and he will be stressing that the real hard work starts here. In two of the past three World Cups they have reached the semi-finals and the underlying trend has been similar: defend as if your lives depend on it, take your points when they are on offer and ignore perceived reputations. History is also in their favour. Argentina may, belatedly, have come alive in their final pool win over Japan but over the past decade the Pumas have beaten Wales only once in seven attempts. The key this time will be stopping Argentina at source, a job made slightly easier by the injury to their back-row talisman Pablo Matera. Wales will be without Taulupe Faletau, who suffered a broken arm against Georgia, but the Pumas are not the same scrummaging threat of old and Jac Morgan has been among the players of the tournament. While Argentina have the fleet-footed Mateo Carreras, Wales have the increasingly prolific Louis Rees-Zammit. Assuming Dan Biggar is fully fit, a gritty Welsh victory would be no surprise.
