Argentina vs. SA: Preview, Live Stream and TV Info for Rugby World Cup Match
Argentina and South Africa meet on Friday in a duel to see who will be crowned best of the rest in the Rugby World Cup 2015 third-place playoff.
The pair came up short against finalists New Zealand and Australia, respectively, and although the prizes on offer aren't as grand, the bronze-medal encounter at London's Olympic Stadium promises fireworks nonetheless.
These two teams have met only once before at the Rugby World Cup and it was the Springboks who triumphed 37-13 in the semi-finals of the 2007 tournament, but the rivalry has changed since then.
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It was only in August of this year the Pumas clinched their first-ever win over the Boks in Durban, and while Heyneke Meyer's side got revenge with a 26-12 victory just one week later, Argentina are undoubtedly ascending.
Coach Daniel Hourcade does have a major concern in that a number of his starting stars will be missing on Friday, including captain Agustin Creevy, Juan Martin Hernandez, Joaquin Tuculet and Juan Imhoff.
Nevertheless, two of the southern hemisphere's finest will lay on a spectacle in the build-up to Saturday's final, and we provide full match preview and viewing information for Friday's bronze-medal match.
Date: Friday, October 30
Time: 8 p.m. GMT/4 p.m. ET/(Saturday, Oct. 31) 4 a.m. AEST/8 a.m. NZDT
Venue: Olympic Stadium, London
Live Stream: ITV Player (UK), Universal Sports (U.S.), Fox Sports (AUS), Sky Go (NZ), SuperSport (SA)
TV Info: ITV (UK), Fox Sports 2 (AUS), Sky Sport 1 (NZ), SuperSport 1 (SA)
Team Lineups
Argentina: 15. Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14. Santiago Cordero, 13. Matias Moroni, 12. Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11. Horacio Agulla, 10. Nicolas Sanchez (C), 9. Tomas Cubelli, 8. Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6. Javier Ortega Desio, 5. Tomas Lavanini, 4. Matias Alemanno, 3. Ramiro Herrera, 2. Julian Montoya, 1. Marcos Ayerza
South Africa: 15. Willie le Roux, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Jesse Kriel, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Handre Pollard, 9. Ruan Pienaar, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Schalk Burger, 6. Francois Louw, 5. Victor Matfield (C), 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira
| October 25, 2015 | Argentina 15-29 Australia |
| October 18, 2015 | Argentina 43-20 Ireland |
| October 11, 2015 | Argentina 64-19 Namibia |
| October 4, 2015 | Argentina 45-16 Tonga |
| September 25, 2015 | Argentina 54-9 Georgia |
| October 24, 2015 | New Zealand 20-18 South Africa |
| October 17, 2015 | South Africa 23-19 Wales |
| October 7, 2015 | South Africa 64-0 United States |
| October 3, 2015 | Scotland 16-34 South Africa |
| September 26, 2015 | Samoa 6-46 South Africa |
Key Players to Watch
Santiago Cordero
One of the few remaining live-wires in the Argentina back line also happens to be arguably the most entertaining and certainly the most promising—Santiago Cordero.
The 21-year-old has three tries to his name at this year's World Cup, and it's no surprise World Rugby Sevens were in the mood to celebrate his high-octane talents this week, posting footage of a stellar score against Georgia:
For all the flash and flair, we do unfortunately have to be fair in finding fault in his game, though, and the youngster did show lapses in defensive concentration en route to the semi-final defeat against Australia.
Rugby World's Charlie Morgan was eager to assure any show of weakness didn't come without a display of quality, however, and his acceleration gives Hourcade's side a rather unique weapon out wide:
It takes a certain grade of speedster to stop one quite as quick as Cordero, but the question is whether a much-altered Argentina back line will have any luck in firing the ball wide that frequently.
| Argentina Win | 3-1 |
| Draw | 25-1 |
| South Africa Win | 2-7 |
| South Africa Winning at HT and FT | 4-5 |
Bryan Habana
And speaking of elite speedsters, we'll stick with the theme of wingers and move to Cordero's head-to-head battle this Friday, where veteran Bryan Habana lies in lurking.
As emphasised by rugby writer Brendan Gallagher earlier this week, the fact this will be Habana's last Rugby World Cup match ever means there's likely to be that extra bit of motivation for him and others:
It comes at the end of a heavily involved tournament, per OptaJonny, and a tally of five tries thus far means the Toulon marvel is still in with a slim shot of catching up to Julian Savea's eight tries in the top scorer charts:
Habana need not chase that haul, though, as just one more try would see him move clear of Jonah Lomu on 15 and become the Rugby World Cup's leading try-scorer outright.
That in itself is reason enough for the 32-year-old to get geared up for a fixture that's being looked upon as anything but a dead-rubber.
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