Global Courant
Since Los Pumas lost their debut against England, the games in the final of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France have been counted. Samoa is over and Chile looms. “It’s the same, if we lose we come back,” said Matías Moroni, confirming that the qualifying phase is also about elimination games: win today’s game so that tomorrow’s game makes sense.
The game will be played on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Argentina (ESPN, Public TV and Star+) at La Beaujoire Stadium in Nantes and Los Pumas head coach, Australian Michael Cheika, made 11 changes compared to the narrow win against Samoa.
Saturday’s final against Los Cóndores has historic features: it will be the first confrontation between the two in a World Cup and it will be the first chapter of matches between South Americans in this competition. The importance of the game goes beyond the result, although the Pumas need a win with certain characteristics.
Because for the final Group D final against Japan to be a goal, the Pumas not only have to beat Chile, but they also have to strive to do so in a certain way. They must achieve the bonus point added to the four points awarded by victory – this is achieved by assisting four tries – to reach the final game with the same score as the Asians.
Because? Because Japan expects the Pumas with 9 points, thanks to the extra point against Chile. If Argentina wins but fails to assist the opponent’s goal four times, it will reach the game against the Asians with 8 points. In this scenario, they will only reach the quarter-finals if they manage to win the last game of the group stage. So if you add five times five, the scenario for getting to the quarterfinals changes.
It’s not common practice, but in the event of a hypothetical draw against Japan, the Pumas would bow out of the competition if they reach the final game with eight points. If both have nine points, the difference in points decides the pass, and here Cheika’s team has an additional obligation before the game against the Condors: the bonus point is not the only need, but it must also be imposed by the largest possible margin.
Today the difference benefits Japan, which has +14. Meanwhile, the Pumas arrive in Nantes with -8. First they have to try to get 23 points more than Los Cóndores to keep up with the Asians.
There is no room for defeat, but in this way there will be room for a tie, even if this is unlikely: so far there has only been one in the World Cup, that of Georgia and Portugal with 18 points. If they also make up the difference in goals, the number of attempts follows and those of Cheika who have a game less have one more.
The “Battle of the Strikers”
For striker coach Andrés Bordoy, the key to the game lies in the fixed formations. “There will be a really interesting battle with the strikers, Chile will compete in every formation. We know the aggressiveness of this pack, which sets it apart. We are very happy about this challenge, it will be a fight: the two teams will want to win the fixed formations and we will look for them there,” said the Doge.
But just as there are plans on the Argentine side, there are also plans of their own in Chile. Apart from the fact that they no longer have a chance at the World Cup, the farewell to Los Pumas has a special flavor because of the importance that rugby means to the region.
“We want it to be our best game of the World Cup. This is the best way to respect our rivals and trust our players and the work we do.” In the first game it was 40 minutes (at a good level), in the second 50 and in the third 20. Hopefully we have in this game as much time as possible to play at a good level,” said Federico Todeschini, one of the players. Chilean coaches hope to make things difficult for the team led by Cheika.
Without thinking about the evolution of the game, some players thought about the immediate past and the present in which they will face each other no less than in a World Cup.
“We grew up always watching Argentina at the World Cup and we will have the opportunity to play against them and compete,” assessed scrum half Marcelo Torrealba. “A few years ago we saw them on TV, the region was cheering them on, and now we are facing them and ready for the challenge,” recalls winger Santiago Videla.
Los Pumas will play their second final, Los Cóndores will look to give the final shot and South American rugby will have its historic afternoon as two teams meet for the first time in the World Cup.
The XV meets Los Cóndores
15 Martín Bogado14 Rodrigo Isgró13 Lucio Cinti12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (c)11 Juan Imhoff10 Nicolás Sánchez9 Tomás Cubelli8 Facundo Isa7 Marcos Kremer6 Juan Martín González5 Pedro Rubiolo4 Guido Petti3 Eduardo Bello2 Agustín Creevy1 Joel Sclavi
The substitutes are: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Matthias Germanno, 20 Joaquin Oviedo, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Juan Cruz Mallia.
