Argentina stun Wales to reach semis: See how World Cup quarter-final unfolded

Wales coach Warren Gatland has made six changes to his starting XV from the team that defeated Georgia last game for the opening quarterfinal against Michael Cheika’s Argentina Pumas in the first quarterfinal of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Join The Roar for live updates.

Aaron Wainwright will wear the number eight jersey – for the 11th time in his 43rd test – in place of the injured Taulupe Faletau.

Regular captain and openside flanker Jac Morgan moves to blindside flanker. Tommy Reffell has been rewarded with a place on the openside after an impressive performance against Georgia: 18 tackles and three turnovers.

Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar return in the halves, with the later returning after injury. Josh Adams and Adam Beard return at left-wing and second-row respectively after being rested against Georgia.

Argentina meanwhile made two changes to their starting XV from the team that beat Japan to qualify.

Scrum-half Tomás Cubelli has replaced Gonzalo Bertranou and Facundo Isa has come in to Los Pumas’ back-row for the injured Pablo MateraAdvertisement

How they got there: Wales topped Australia’s pool C by winning all four games including a thumping 40-6 win over the Wallabies. Argentina finished second behind England, beating Japan is a virtual sudden death game after also accounting for Samoa and Chile.

Teams:

Wales (1-15): Gareth Thomas, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Jac Morgan (c), Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Dan Biggar, Josh Adams, Nick Tompkins, George North, Louis Rees-Zammit, Liam Williams

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza, Tomos Williams,
Sam Costelow, Rio Dyer

Argentina (1-15): Thomas Gallo, Julian Montoya (c), Francisco Gómez Kodela, Guido Petti Pagadizabal, Tomas Lavanini, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Facundo Isa, Tomas Cubelli, Santiago Carreras, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Chocobares, Lucio Cinti, Emiliano Boffelli, Juan Cruz Mallia.

Replacements: Agustín Creevy, Joel Sclavi, Eduardo Bello, Matias Alemanno, Rodrigo Bruni, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Nicolas Sanchez, Matías Moroni.

Prediction: Wales by 5 points.

Streaming: Stan Sport

Odds (via PlayUp): Wales $1.42, Argentina $2.85.

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Tony Harper

Editor

Tony Harper is honoured to be next man in as The Roar editor, having made his debut at the Queensland Times, Ipswich, in 1989 with a column entitled 'That's What I reckon Sport!' Has since worked as a reporter and editor with organisations including Fox Sports, Fairfax, News Corp, AAP, The AP and ACP magazines, covering four Olympics, three FIFA World Cups and WCs in cricket and rugby.