ANY LEINSTER FANS looking for skin in the game this Friday night have a pretty good choice.
Joe Schmidt is a key part of the New Zealand set-up and thereโs no doubt his detailed coaching will be vital ahead of this World Cup semi-final in Paris, while the Argentina coaching staff is led by two other Leinster legends.
When Michael Cheika took on the job last year, he knew he needed to have Felipe Contepomi with him.
Contepomi had been an important player under Cheika back in his days coaching Leinster from 2005 until 2010, a period that saw him lead the province to their first Heineken Cup title.
โDr Philโ missed that final against Leicester, having been injured in the semi-final win over Munster on a day that Johnny Sexton stepped up in a big way.
Contepomi left Leinster that summer, with Cheika departing a year later, but they ended up working together for another stint soon after as Cheika brought Contepomi to Stade Franรงais in 2011.
Their paths diverged thereafter but once Contepomi stepped into coaching after his retirement from playing, it always seemed likely there would be a reunion. Contepomi returned to Leinster in 2018 as backs and attack coach, building his reputation to the point where Cheika knew he needed to recruit his former out-half for the Argentina set-up last year.
The pair of them have now coached Los Pumas into the World Cup semi-finals and Cheika believes Contepomiโs influence has been vital.
โMate, Felipe has been unreal,โ said Cheika this evening in Paris after naming his Argentina team.
โHe has a lot of good, new ideas. One of his strengths is heโs extremely open to learning new things.
โWeโve had some where Iโd bring something to the table, heโd be very opinionated on what he wants but heโs open to hearing things as well to add to his repertoire.
โHis time at Leinster has taken him to another level. The great players donโt always make the great coaches but he was a great player and heโs going to be a great coach.
โThatโs coming along, heโs got the knack. He studies the opposition well, he has a rapport with players and heโs going to be doing a great job for Argentina Iโm sure.
โA lot of the ideas he had as a player, plus what he learned at Leinster as a coach, itโs really forming him nicely right now.โ
Of course, Cheikaโs influence has been the real key for this Argentina side. They opened their World Cup with a miserable performance in defeat to 14-man England but steadied the ship with pool wins over Samoa, Chile, and Japan to earn a quarter-final spot.
The first half was tricky against Wales last weekend but the Pumas were strong thereafter to win 29-17 and earn their place against the All Blacks on Friday night.
Theyโre underdogs, but Cheika likes it that way. Whether with Leinster, winning Super Rugby with the Waratahs in 2014, or guiding the Wallabies into the 2015 World Cup final, he has a habit of surprising people.
โYes, theyโve helped me as well as the times that Iโve messed it up too,โ said Cheika of drawing on those experiences now with Argentina.
โWhen I havenโt gone good, thatโs helped me as well because thatโs probably where you get more. But theyโre all different experiences. This is very different because Iโm dealing with a different culture and people.
โItโs one that I really love being around and Iโm very connected to. So those experiences have definitely helped me in preparing one for the other for the other. So the Leinster one to the Waratahs one to the Wallabies one. In that collective order, that helps me have a set of experiences that help me in this situation.
โItโs a big situation but itโs a beautiful one. Itโs a great opportunity for us and weโre doing everything we can with that to try and take it.โ
It helps that Argentina have actually beaten the All Blacks before. They enjoyed their first-ever win against the Kiwis in Sydney in 2020 and then pulled off a big shock win away to the New Zealanders in Christchurch last year.
โYou canโt say that one game means we can do it as there are a lot of games where we havenโt,โ said Cheika.
โThat moment has to be just a part of it. What we have done since then, all the successes and failures [matter].
โThe other team are heavy favourites, everyone is expecting a New Zealand and South Africa final. We just have to focus on what we can do.โ
Cheika has made just one change to his team after last weekendโs quarter-final win over Wales, with Gonzalo Bertranou coming in for Tomรกs Cubelli at scrum-half for this clash with the All Blacks.
Argentina (v New Zealand):
- 15. Juan Cruz Mallia
- 14. Emiliano Boffelli
- 13. Lucio Cinti
- 12. Santiago Chocobares
- 11. Mateo Carreras
- 10. Santiago Carreras
- 9. Gonzalo Bertranou
- 1. Thomas Gallo
- 2. Juliรกn Montoya (c)
- 3. Francisco Gรณmez Kodela
- 4. Guido Petti Pagadizabal
- 5. Tomas Lavanini
- 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez
- 7. Marcos Kremer
- 8. Facundo Isa
Replacements:
- 16. Agustรญn Creevy
- 17. Joel Sclavi
- 18. Eduardo Bello
- 19. Matias Alemanno
- 20. Rodrigo Bruni
- 21. Lautaro Bazan Velez
- 22. Nicolas Sanchez
- 23. Matรญas Moroni
Referee: Angus Gardner [Australia].
Right call
@Shimmy Shammy: Will you cop on.Anywhere else on the pitch it would have been a straight red no questionโs asked.
@Padraic McHugh: This should of been a red but they got it wrong. End of discussion. Would rather see the ref association and FA learn from this and use VAR more effectively. No long term logic in handing out a ban because the Ref and VAR got it wrong.
@Shimmy Shammy: man United fans deluded as usual
@Kenh28: Wrong call made on the pitch, I think everyone is agreed on that. Liverpool fans looking for special treatment is what is delusional.
Itโs bad enough losing VVD for the season without Everton further gaining by Pickford being suspended. Keeping him in goal is punishment enough.
@Paul Crampsie: Whatโs done is done, time for LFC to pick themselves up, hopefully full of furious raging fire to win the league.
@Dave OโShaughnessy: agreed, the other worry though is that weโre left with Gomez and Matip, I think they can rise to the challenge but both are pretty injury prone. If either gets injured we will struggle.
Heโs a liability so heโll get caught out again during the season, a retrospective ban is meaningless to Liverpool but this canโt be allowed to happen again, especially with the ability to watch it over and over again to help make up your mind, challenges like that have ruined a players careers in the past.
Plain and simple itโs because heโs Englandโs number 1! Shocking again from the frank spencer brigade!
We see these moments of madness from Pickford in every game. Heโs panicked and flung himself into the situation without thinking. Anyone who thinks itโs pre-meditated or intentional gives him far too much credit.
@Fergus OโConnor: Ya it was pure instinctive which makes it much worse because heโll do it again.
Just like Liverpool will find it hard to win the league without VVD Everton will eventually slip back due to Pickford errors. While no action will be taken on Pickford surely there has to be consequences for the VAR official and the Ref. How they both saw it and thought nothing of it is baffling
I remember van Dijk went in late and studs up on Mertens against Napoli last year and only got a yellow when he should have seen red. His defense was โthatโs footballโ, this is football too I guess.
Fairly amusing that all last season it was โliVARpoolโ and people just moaning about the calls they were getting and the second it goes against liverpool just a bunch of fellas saying โget over itโ
@Eric Murphy: I think youโre making their point. Liverpool got a lot of dodgy VAR decisions last season and the first time one goes against them they are up in arms. Short memory. Swings and roundabouts.
@Stephen Foster: Is thatโs the Premier League title they won by 23 points? Yeah, VAR was the reason for that.
Christ please change the record on this utter rubbish about LFC getting the majority of favourable VAR decisions, they were middle of the road for favourable calls according to searchable stats, United as an example received much more positive outcomes on VAR.
Reminds me of world cup 1982 Germany v France. German keeper charged out to demolish Patrick Battison of France. He wasnโt even booked. How come goalkeepers always get away with this kind of behaviour. Pickford should have got red card.