The All Blacks will be looking to maintain their perfect record in the Rugby Championship when they square off against the struggling Pumas. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 5:35pm AEST.
After starting the Rugby Championship with a crushing win over the Wallabies at ANZ Stadium, New Zealand were forced to dig deep against Australia seven days later in Dunedin, securing a six-point win in a classic Bledisloe encounter.
Despite Kurtley Beale’s try in the 75th minute, the All Blacks still found a way to respond courtesy of a try to Beauden Barrett to secure another epic win at home.
Indeed the All Blacks are used to winning and invariably find a way to secure a result when circumstances appear unfavourable.
Unfortunately for the Pumas tonight, the All Blacks will be keen to give their fans further enjoyment and have named another strong side to tackle the South Americans.
The All Blacks have made seven changes to the side that beat the Wallabies to claim the Bledisloe Cup in Dunedin. Vaea Fafita makes his first start for the All Blacks at blindslide flanker, alongside Ardie Savea and Kieran Read in a new look back-row, while Luke Romano comes into the second-row with Sam Whitelock rested.
Nehe Milner-Skudder returns to the left wing, making his first appearance for the All Blacks since the 2015 Rugby World Cup in place of Rieko Ioane, while Israel Dagg takes on the right side with Ben Smith on sabbatical. Anton-Lienert-Brown returns to the centres with Ryan Crotty dropping out of the 23, and TJ Perenara makes the start in the No.9 jersey over Aaron Smith.
Argentina have made seven changes with coach Daniel Hourcade looking to kick-start the Pumas’ Rugby Championship campaign. Veteran Juan Manuel Leguizamon is the most surprising of omissions with Ramiro Herrera replaced by Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, while Guido Petti has been named at lock, replacing Tomas Lavanini.
Javier Ortega Desio and Benjamin Macome have been called into the back-row to replace Tomaz Lezana and Leguizamon. In the backs, Nicolas Sanchez returns at fly-half in place of Juan Martin Hernandez while Matias Moroni moves to centre to replace Matias Orlando and winger Santiago Cordero pushes out Ramiro Moyano.
Despite these changes, the gulf in class between the two sides is evident and the All Blacks start unbackable favourites at home.
If the Pumas wish to cause an historic upset, they will need to play the percentages well, kick long and keep the All Blacks playing out of their own half.
The Pumas do have a habit of starting well against the All Blacks in recent matches, but the key will be for them to maintain that intensity for 80 minutes against the most ruthless team on the planet.
Despite a poor start to the Championship, Argentina always looks forward to a match-up against New Zealand given that a win against the Rugby superpower would be just as good, if not better, than securing the championship.
With that in mind, expect Argentina to fight hard before New Zealand’s class once again sees them through to another win.
All Blacks by 25
KIWI4LYFE
Guest
as suppose to the drop dead one eyed monster commentators that are called aussies? Tool
Machpants
Roar Guru
And Perenara is a nine, but apart from that TM good cal on ABs ten!
Atlas
Guest
Cruden playing for Montpellier now, not an AB option
Taylorman
Guest
Agree with most of that BW. Considering some key players were missing it wasnt bad. Argie applied the right amount of pressure to win but couldnt sustain it. Similat to oz in that respect. Agree re SBW though I think Dagg is still needed back three with no Smith, Savea. Barrett should have gone to FB when Smith went off Lions 1 and stayed there. Agree re SBW. Why is here even there? Hes not World cup final start material surely? Average to poor all year. Fifita...? A star in the making?
Blackwave
Guest
Pretty pathetic display tonight. The defence is absolute rubbish, they've talked all week about line defence but conceded easy territory in the first 60 minutes. Fifita stepped up and played a blinder. We'll see plenty more of this guy in years to come I reckon. Sopoaga played very well with good control -a solid steady performance. As opposed to Barrett's 'cute' little chip kicks that did sweet FA. NMS also did well on his return. Israel Dagg needs to be dropped. May have finished reasonably with a right foot step but to be quite frank any AB winger would've finished that try given the space he had. He doesn't offer anything now. When he first came onto the scene he had an electric first step/acceleration and a nice clearance. Now he offers essentially nothing except some experience (which is hard to blame him given that he's much older and lost his pace). Quite frankly playing Dagg and SBW over Havili and Goodhue right now is pointless. That Ofa Tu'ungafasi is hot trash. Absolute rubbish everytime he plays. In fact, he's straight trash everytime he does essentially anything. I originally hoped Barrett would steadily improve with his kicking and eventually be someone we could rely on to land a pressure shot. I have now officially given up. Would like to see Sopoaga start at 10 with BB at Fullback. Dagg should get dropped. SBW should get dropped, had 1 nice offload and that was it. No impact on a game against lower level competition. Codie Taylor has outplayed Dane Coles so far. Even though McKenzie won't be playing with J.Barrett gets back, his defence is pretty awful.
Highlander
Guest
Yep, Big game from Fafita Moody has scrummed so well this year and is great around the park, will be a shame to lose him
Taylorman
Guest
Moody looks gone for a while though. Id have had Cruden or Perenara at 10 this year, Barrett is a moments man but just doesnt run the play well. Sapoaga must be the most underplayed AB ever. Is clearly test level class and would make most sides. Big rap for Fifita, a clear threat to Kainos 6 pos, such a presence. Hansen got that one right.
Alan
Roar Guru
The All Blacks have secured a 17 point win over a gallant but outplayed Pumas outfit tonight in New Zealand. Argentina toiled hard and held a 7 point lead early in the second half. However, they failed to take advantage of a sin-bin to Beauden Barrett as the All Blacks raised their game and took control of the contest. Although the Pumas toiled hard tonight, the fact remains that the All Blacks remain significantly superior given that they scored 6 tries to 1 tonight. Missed conversion attempts from the All Blacks, coupled with penalty strikes from Argentina kept the Pumas close to NZ. Overall, another hard lesson for the Pumas, but a valuable one heading into next week's contest against the Wallabies. The Pumas need to back themselves in good field position instead of opting for the penalty goal, particularly when Barrett was sin-binned during a period when the Pumas were right on the attack. Fifita was the standout performer for the All Blacks tonight. He always bent the line and scored a great second half try that halted the Pumas momentum. All Blacks 39 Pumas 22
Alan
Roar Guru
FULLTIME All Blacks 39 Pumas 22
Highlander
Guest
Nice finish by the AB's 1. Lima has to start, everything just feels like it is hand with him at 10 2. Loving the front row, big scrum performance from Coles tonight 3. Sam Cane came on and just shut the gate near the rucks 4. There is not a Number 8 anywhere with the skill set of Kieran Read 5. SBW is still not a starter
Alan
Roar Guru
Barrett is over for the All Blacks and NZ remain undefeated in the Rugby Championship. Argentina will have to wait for a few weeks yet to perhaps have a chance of securing the win against NZ. Barrett hit the gap and was never going to be stopped! CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL All Blacks 39 Pumas 22
Alan
Roar Guru
TRY ALL BLACKS All Blacks 37 Pumas 22
Taylorman
Guest
BBBBBB!
Drongo
Guest
Yeah, you could feel the squirming from Sydney.
Taylorman
Guest
Thank goodness we have you then! ?
Drongo
Guest
Yeah, a blatant no arms tackle is shown on replay and they are deathly silent. No comment, change the subject. Typical. As for the game, well, well.
Bing
Guest
Show a replay of Fifita with a no arms tackle in slow motion and the commentators go silent.
Alan
Roar Guru
75' - All Blacks with a chance to finish Argentina off. Close but no cigar for the Pumas yet again. Its a hard school the Rugby championship but a good school nonetheless for Argentine rugby. All Blacks 32 Pumas 22
Taylorman
Guest
said the same in the Lions series....?
Alan
Roar Guru
Hard to see the Pumas coming back from this deficit. They have toiled hard and have remained in this contest for 70 minutes but the All Blacks now running away with this. All Blacks 32 Pumas 22