Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the Rugby Championship match.
Australia edged past Argentina (28:24) in the opening clash, but that doesn’t mean things will be straightforward in the second match, nor that the Wallabies can bank on another home win.
Australia
Nothing was straightforward in Round 3 either. The Wallabies only secured victory in the 86th minute, beyond regulation time, when prop Angus Bell crossed after a multi-phase attack. For the majority of the match, Australia were behind, leading for just 12 minutes in total — brief spells in the first half and then again at the death. Their success was built on the graft of the heavy forwards and the speed of the backline, with replacements Tate McDermott and James O’Connor linking them brilliantly in the second half. Neither of that half-back pairing will start in Sydney. Nic White returns at scrum-half, while fly-half duties go to Tane Edmed, who has just one Test cap to his name.
Argentina
Argentina looked the more dangerous side for long stretches, striking twice in five minutes through Bautista Delguy and Santiago Carreras to take control early. They went into half-time with a 14-point cushion, and Carreras also kept the scoreboard ticking with three penalties and a conversion, finishing as the game’s top scorer on 11 points. Felipe Contepomi has made only three changes to his starting XV, keeping faith with the Javier Garcia–Santiago Carreras half-back partnership that caused plenty of problems last week.
Australia vs Argentina Prediction
Matches between these two rarely descend into cagey, penalty-driven affairs. In fact, in eight of their last head-to-heads, the points tally has cleared 50 on five occasions, with only two low-scoring exceptions — both a while back. With the attacking threats on both sides and recent form, the value lies on the overs.
