The Autumn internationals do come at the end of a long year
for the Southern Hemisphere’s elite sides and an Argentina side in disarray could
end on another flat note when they take on Italy at the Stadio Olimpico today.
The Pumas have been able to put it upto the best of the
world’s elite for some time and at times look to have really reaped the benefits
of being in the newly expended Four Nations, but with the overwhelming majority
of their squad now playing for Northern Hemisphere clubs tiredness has become a
huge factor that’s not contributing towards their long list of defeats against
Tier one nations.
In 10 matches this year they’ve conceded just under 40
points per games – with hammerings against South Africa and Argentina
contributing greatly towards that damning statistics – and they have the timely
total of no wins against such opponents this year.
The clear difference in their performance levels seems to
correlate with how much rugby they’ve played at a given time of the year. Last
year they were brilliant when being far too quick and skilled for Wales in the
first game of their tour last season but were then routed by France and
Ireland, and in the summer tour before that they had beaten France before being
routed in the second test and on their last Rugby Championship game they were
taken apart by Australia.
So far to end this year they’ve been swatted aside by an
England team which can be accused of serious complacency after entering the
second half 24-6 up and Wales avenged their defeat last year with a 40-6 rout.
It’s not unfair to say that Italy, who had their limitations
well and truly exposed when dismantled by Australia two weeks ago, are a step
down on those two sides but do present a stiff challenge of their own and
should be hitting something like a peak for their last game of the year. The
Pumas new centre pairing of Gabriel Ascárate and Horacio Agulla could provide
some impetus but Argentina have looked to be at the end of their tether for
quite some time and Italy can take a high profile scalp to end their year.
Advice
1 pt Italy (evs general)
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