The Wallabies are shooting for four victories in a row for the first time since 2017. Sustaining the rage for a final victory in The Rugby Championship against Argentina on Saturday would be concrete improvement for coach Dave Rennie’s men. The gritty South Africans nearly pulled off a major upset by blunting New Zealand’s firepower in Townsville last weekend before being denied by a late penalty goal. What’s in store on the Gold Coast? Check out our rugby betting tips for Australia vs Argentina below.
The Rugby Championship Betting Tips
Australia v Argentina
Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast - Saturday, October 2nd, 5.05pm (AEST)
The energy of these two sides is at different ends of the spectrum. The Wallabies are bubbling after three straight wins and Los Pumas have an eye on the plane home. Having six players barred from contention because of a border crossing to Byron Bay was plain stupidity from the Argentinians. It has knocked out two starters (Pablo Matera and Santiago Medrano) from last weekend’s 27-8 loss in Townsville.
The Argentinians could harness their misfortune and the perceived slight of the missed photo opp in Townsville to harden their mindset for a final fling at the Wallabies but how far would that get them?
The Pumas are averaging just nine points per game through their five losses in the TRC. As resolute as they have been in patches, they have been unable to actually convert dominant play into tries.
On the flip side, that is something the Wallabies have unlocked. They are scoring tries with the calm direction of Quade Cooper. No Marika Koroibete is a big loss to the Wallabies’ backs because of his high-speed workrate. He gets from one side of the field to the other and chases kicks like few others in world rugby. Coach Rennie has impressed on replacement winger Jordie Petaia that he has to hunt hard and fast off the ball to replicate that. Petaia is fully fit and hungry and he isn’t always in such good physical shape. A bet at $2.25 for an Any Time Try (Sportsbet) from Petaia is appealing.
Rennie has made changes but not changes to the integrity of the line-up. He keeps building the centre pairing of Samu Kerevi and Len Ikitau. He has locked in Nic White and Cooper as his halves, Michael Hooper and Rob Valetini are fixtures in the backrow and he’s starting an unchanged front-row.
He’s a better selector than predecessor Michael Cheika and that’s as important as coaching sometimes.
Rennie is giving some hungry players chances too...new backrow starter Peter Samu and intense backrow reserve Sean McMahon plus bench halfback Jake Gordon.
The Wallabies can really make a statement by sustaining the rage with a good win. The Pumas couldn’t handle Kerevi in the early stages of the Townsville Test and will have trouble again. Kerevi produced 90 running metres off 14 ball-carries with three linebreaks, six tackle busts and a try in Townsville.
Expect James O’Connor to get more minutes too off the bench.
The Argentinians may have had a chance if this Test was played in Byron Bay but a repeat of their 23-19 upset of the Wallabies on the Gold Coast in 2018 looks remote.
Wallabies win 11-20 points
$3.60
New Zealand v South Africa
Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast - Saturday October 2nd, 8.05pm (AEST)
The All Blacks are billing this as a Grand Slam chance for six-from-six in 2021 over their southern hemisphere rivals should they win. A sharp improvement over the tight 19-17 win over the Springboks in Townsville will be motivating. As much as the Kiwis won that 100th Test between the nations, it was the South Africans who imposed the pace and style of game for far longer periods. The Springboks will stick with their kick-and-pressure game, brutal defence and not take too many risks. That’s all fine unless it reaches the final minutes of a tight Test and you have few clues how to attack when you need to. Kicking the ball away twice in the closing minutes of the Townsville Test was a sad sign that the Boks don’t have the Plan B they need for decisive moments without injured Cheslin Kolbe.
The All Blacks made a huge number of turnovers through poor handling last weekend. You don’t expect that to be repeated. Winger George Bridge won’t get the chance to drop another high kick because he’s been dropped. Sevu Reece and Rieko Ioane will play on the wings and will have trained for an aerial bombardment.
Beauden Barrett is at flyhalf with Richie Mo’unga to come off the bench.
