Argentina face New Zealand in the fifth round of the Rugby Championship in Buenos Aires on Saturday, with the All Blacks looking to bounce back after suffering a rare defeat against South Africa two weeks ago.
The Pumas haven’t beaten the All Blacks since 1976, but have already lost to South Africa and Australia earlier this year.
Here, we take a look at the key highlights ahead of the match.
TALKING POINT – ALL EYES ON THE KICKING TEE
There is no doubt that Beauden Barrett is one of the greatest fly-halves of this current generation, but for a two-time World Player of the Year, his place kicking is appalling.
He missed four out of six conversions against South Africa two weeks ago, including an easy kick to force a draw following Ardie Savea’s try.
Remarkably, Barrett only has a 58 per cent success rate from the tee in the Rugby Championship, in contrast to Pumas No10 Nicolas Sanchez’s 82 per cent success rate.
Barrett may have the playmaking skills that most other players in the world don’t have, but how many teams have won a Rugby World Cup with a poor placekicker?
It’s something Steve Hansen needs to weigh up ahead of next September’s showpiece in Japan, especially when his brother Jordie and sub fly-half Richie Mo’unga are much better placekickers.
KEY BATTLE – EMILIANO BOFFELLI V BEN SMITH
If Argentina are going to make history and beat the All Blacks for the first time in 42 years, they need to score plenty of tries.
The strongest area of Mario Ledesma’s side is his back three, and with Ramiro Moyano out injured, much pressure will fall on totemic full-back Emiliano Boffelli.
The 23-year-old Jaguares star has gas, power, good defence, accurate kicking from hand and reliability under the high ball.
But, what he can do is that his opposite number possesses in truck loads.
One of the best readers of the game and arguably one of the All Blacks’ most decorated players at present, Ben Smith rarely seems to have a bad game.
His consistency at Test level is remarkable, and although he may have the edge in his attacking prowess going forward, Smith will still need plenty of assistance from his back-line to get the upper hand on a dominant and hungry Pumas attack.
WHAT THEY SAID
EMILIANO BOFFELLI (Argentina full-back)
“I wanted New Zealand to come here having beaten South Africa because it is so seldom that they lose two matches in a row.
“To overcome the All Blacks you have to play a perfect game and hope they do not.”
STEVE HANSEN (New Zealand manager)
“All Black teams are well known for coming back reasonably strongly after a defeat.
“They don’t experience a lot of them and particularly this group haven’t anyway.”
WHAT WE THINK – NZ TO WIN BY MORE THAN 10 POINTS
There is no doubt that the Pumas have improved this season under Ledesma, but New Zealand’s attacking threats should prove too strong in Buenos Aires.
Shannon Frizell, Waisake Naholo and Barrett can all make the magic happen with ball in hand, and will be difficult to stop when going forward at pace.
With the return of Sonny Bill Williams to the starting XV , the All Blacks back-line will benefit from his superb power game and offloading skills.
Expect it to be a tight first half and then the visitors to storm to a convincing win.
