Don’t believe reports that the semi-finals will be walkovers for New Zealand and South Africa.
There are many who believe this weekend’s semi-finals are merely formalities ahead of a Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and South Africa in Paris on Saturday week. Argentina and England would beg to differ, as both have achieved significant victories over their semi-final opponents in recent years.
It is his first Rugby World Cup semi-final and he is likely to be nervous and hard on the whistle. If the All Blacks get flustered by Argentina and start to give away penalties, Boffelli will punish them and suddenly pressure enters the equation.Next is Argentinian coach Michael Cheika, who is a fabulous amateur psychologist and the master motivator.
Amazingly, the All Black reserve front-row are stronger than the starting three. That’s not the case for Argentina and the Pumas will have to be on full alert to counter the pain these big chaps will impose.AdvertisementNew Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe copped plenty of criticism from French captain Antoine Dupont in the post-game media conference for his alleged bias towards South Africa in the devastating quarter-final loss to France.
The big question is will they be aggressive enough in the forwards to counter the Springbok juggernaut. On their day, England can get close. But narrow tournament wins against Fiji and Samoa raise significant questions about their mental toughness.South African director of rugby Rassie Erasmus bought up some compelling stats when naming his team for the semi-final. The average caps for his team are 54, while for England it is 59. The average age for South Africa is 30, to England’s 29.
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