Saturday October 28th
The final weekend of action kick off in the tradition third-place playoff, and it’s Argentina up against England for the second time at the 2023 Rugby World Cup!
Los Pumas were decent enough (obviously) during the Pool stage to win three of their four games, and their only loss came at the hands of Saturday’s opponent, England. There is absolutely no doubt that they improved for each match up until last week’s Semi-Final, however, and they peaked in their memorable Quarterfinal win over Wales.
They were outclassed and outplayed by the All Blacks last week and frankly, they were never in it.
England remained undefeated up until last weekend’s Semi-Final loss to the Springboks, and they will be lamenting their chances not taken, having looked the winner at several points in that game. All said and done, they returned a performance typical of their nation at the Rugby World Cup, and they are fitting favourites in this third-place playoff.
I’m torn as to whether or not I think that Argentina have it in them to suit up and return one last competitive performance, but last week’s effort suggested perhaps not.
I think that England will be eager to finish on the podium, and they might just pull away from the Argies in the second half.