LIVE | RWC 2023: Argentina veteran Cubelli returns for third place play-off

Argentina veteran Cubelli returns for Rugby World Cup third-place play-off

Experienced scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli is one of three changes made by Argentina head coach Michael Cheika for Friday’s Rugby World Cup third-place play-off with England to the side that began the semi-final with New Zealand.

Cubelli, 34, returns to the starting lineup after missing last Friday’s 44-6 thrashing by the All Blacks.

Young lock Pedro Rubiolo and centre Jeronimo de la Fuente are the other changes.

Cubelli comes in for Gonzalo Bertranou, Rubiolo replaces Tomas Lavanini and De La Fuente is in for Santiago Chocobares.

Cheika’s side get a chance to avenge their opening pool stage defeat by England, who beat the Pumas 27-10 despite playing most of the match with just 14 men after Tom Curry was red-carded.

Rubiolo, De la Fuente, No 8 Facundo Isa and replacement fly-half Nicolas Sanchez are the only players who did not feature in the pool game.

The Pumas are aiming to match their best-ever finish in a World Cup, when they beat hosts France to claim third place in 2007.

Team:

15 Juan Cruz Mallia; 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Mateo Carreras; 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Tomas Cubelli; 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez; 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti; 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (capt), 1 Thomas Gallo

Substitutes: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Rodrigo Bruno, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Nicholas Sanchez, 23 Matias Moroni

Boks in training ahead of Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final.

England hand veterans last hurrah for Rugby World Cup third place play-off

Centre Manu Tuilagi and scrum-half Ben Youngs will start Friday’s Rugby World Cup third place play-off in what could be their final England appearances.

Fellow veterans in prop Dan Cole and half-back Danny Care, both 36, are named on the bench for Friday’s game with Argentina.

Back-rower Courtney Lawes and winger Jonny May who have both announced they are retiring from Test rugby are denied a chance to have a final bow with head coach Steve Borthwick omitting the pair from the matchday squad.

Flanker Tom Curry will make his 50th England appearance despite being in the centre of an investigation into an allegation he was racially abused by South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi during last Saturday’s semi-final.

Curry, 25, retains his position from the agonising 16-15 last four loss to the defending champions as Borthwick makes eight changes to his team.

Winger Elliot Daly, prop Joe Marler, hooker Jamie George, lock George Martin scrum-half Alex Mitchell join Lawes, May and Cole in missing out on the starting lineup.

Tuilagi, 32, partners Joe Marchant in midfield and 34-year-old Youngs is at half-back alongside captain Owen Farrell.

Farrell was serving a suspension when England opened their campaign with an impressive 27-10 victory over the Pumas, the English playing most of the match with 14 men due to Curry being sent off.

“After the disappointment of last weekend’s game against South Africa, it is important that this Friday we once again play with the determination and dedication that so nearly earned the team the result we wanted,” Borthwick said in a Rugby Football Union statement on Wednesday.

“The Bronze Final gives us a great opportunity to finish the tournament on a positive note, continue to build for the future, and to give our supporters one last chance to get behind the squad out here in Paris. The players are looking forward to the challenge against what will be a strong Argentina side,” he added.

Team (15-1)

Marcus Smith; Freddie Steward, Joe Marchant, Manu Tuilagi, Henry Arundell; Owen Farrell (capt), Ben Youngs; Ben Earl, Sam Underhill, Tom Curry; Ollie Chessum, Maro Itoje; Will Stuart, Theo Dan, Ellis GengeReplacements: Jamie George, Bevan Rodd, Dan Cole, Dave Ribbans, Lewis Ludlam, Danny Care, George Ford, Ollie Lawrence

Coach: Steve Borthwick (ENG)

– AFP

All Blacks ‘mentally and physically’ ready for final hurrah – McLeod

The All Blacks are both “mentally and physically” ready for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final against old rivals South Africa, according to defence coach Scott McLeod.

New Zealand outclassed Argentina 44-6 in the semi-finals to set up the showdown at the Stade de France against the Springboks, last-gasp 16-15 victors over England in their last-four clash.

As each side stares down the barrel of a seventh and final match in France, tagged on to a series of warm-up matches, McLeod insisted there was little sign of fatigue in the All Blacks camp.

“There’s the bodies but looking at how we’re tracking, we’ve got 33 fit men.” McLeod said.

“A number of those guys have come back from injury lately so they haven’t felt the full wear and tear of the whole tournament and they’re actually feeling quite fresh.”

Added to that, he said, was the belief garnered from not only the semi-final but also the pulsating 28-24 quarter-final victory over Ireland.

“When parts of your game works through the quarter-finals and semi-finals, you get belief out of that. It’s also mental freshness. It’s not something that drags you down.

“So both mentally and physically we’re ready for this. We’re quite excited already. We’ll probably just have to hold the boys back a little bit.”

McLeod, credited with producing the defensive blueprint that helped the All Blacks snuff out then-world number one team Ireland in the quarters, added: “A lot of aspects of our game are working and that builds belief.”

“It’s something that we’ve been working on quite a while and to see it work under those moments in quarters and semis, it’s very pleasing and it’s just about harnessing that now and making sure we go again.”

The Springboks will be a tough proposition that would offer up a never-say-die attitude, as shown in the dramatic victory over England, said McLeod, capped 10 times by the All Blacks as a centre.

“It’s always their mentality. They come from a country where they’re very hardened and they know how to stay in the fight and to win the fight.

“They’ve shown that over many years and showed it in the last World Cup as well. Not much of their DNA has changed.”

McLeod added that the record 35-7 defeat South Africa inflicted on New Zealand in a pre-tournament warm-up at Twickenham had retained some relevance.

But it was “not so much on a motivational aspect, but more in scenarios: How do we respond? So we took a lot of learning out of that particularly when we went down to 13 men”.

McLeod said it would be “no secret” that both teams would be focusing on the opening quarter.

“We need to be extremely accurate show the pitches that we want to show and be able to apply pressure at the same time,” he said.

“The Boks have always come out and wanted to start well.”

-AFP

Heartbreaking loss will fuel belief for England players, says Borthwick

England’s players will use the heartbreaking 16-15 Rugby World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa to grow just as they have done in adversity in the past, said head coach Steve Borthwick on Sunday. The 44-year-old has to pick up his players for Friday’s third-place play-off with Argentina after Handre Pollard’s late penalty sent the defending champions through to the final against New Zealand.

That was the only time the Springboks led throughout a match that England had looked in control of, leading 15-6 at one stage in the second half.

Borthwick, though, said the way he had seen the players cope with other disappointments during his tenure — he replaced the sacked Eddie Jones last December — gave him heart for the future.

“Yesterday morning (Saturday) I was reading a piece about adversity: in each adversity, you find that seed of belief, you have got to grow it,” the former England lock and captain told reporters.

“This team has been through a bit over the last few years. Through each of those periods, the team has picked up lessons, picked up what we needed to do and have grown from it.”

Borthwick and the team arrived at the sport’s quadrennial showpiece with few giving them chances of going far even in a weak pool. They won all their pool games — including beating Argentina despite playing for most of the game with 14 men — and in the quarter-finals, beat Fiji, who had recorded a historic win at Twickenham prior to the tournament.

“I think you have seen growth in this tournament,” said Borthwick.

“It hasn’t always been linear, it’s not the straightforward path you always want it to be. That is what I want this week, I want to make sure we take more growth and we move forward.”

Borthwick said players react in different ways to adversity, and he would draw on lessons he learned as a player to deal with them.

“I try to understand the position that the other people are in, try and reflect on how they are,” he said.

“Then treat people the way I would want to be treated myself. Sometimes, I was treated that way (when he was a player) and sometimes I wasn’t.

“I want to make sure that as a coach, I keep developing to treat people in the way they should be treated.

“Everyone handles adversity in a different way. Some people use it and keep thinking back to it. Some people grab the lessons and don’t want to think about it again.

“The big message I keep saying to my team is, however each individual handles it, we collectively move forward.”

Borthwick was asked about the Springboks celebrating in front of his players’ faces but preferred to reflect on the positive impact his squad had had.

“They will handle themselves as they decide to,” he s