Argentina vs England Prediction: Half bread is better than none

In the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Argentina and England will play each other for the very last time in the bronze final, which will take place on Friday night at the Stade de France. Both of these teams advanced from Pool D and won their quarterfinal matches, but in the semifinals, Los Pumas were defeated by the All Blacks in a manner that was quite resounding, whereas England was defeated by the Springboks by the narrowest of margins. 

Argentina's campaign for the 2023 Rugby World Cup began with a battle against this opponent back in week one. Despite the fact that Argentina went into the contest as the favorite, they ended up losing the match by a score of 27-10, and it was one of the weakest performances they had put forth all year. To be fair, Los Pumas were never really at their best in any of their group-stage victories against Samoa, Chile, or Japan. However, they certainly kicked into high gear in what was without a doubt the pinnacle of the tournament for them, which was beating Wales 29-17 in the quarterfinal. However, the class of the opponent took a significant step up last week when they played the All Blacks. While many people did not give Argentina much of a chance to win the match, few could have imagined such a one-sided competition. The team managed a few promising phases in the first half, but their defensive weaknesses were obvious, and New Zealand finally dominated the encounter to cruise past them and into the final. The South American team will welcome the opportunity to seek retribution for their loss to this opponent in their opening match, and if they are able to concentrate on dominating the scrum and minimizing errors, they will have an excellent chance of matching their best-ever World Cup finish.

With New Zealand's triumph over Ireland by a score of 28-24 and South Africa's victory to eliminate the hosts by a score of 29-28 considered to be two of the best matches in history, the semi-final that took place last week between England and the Springboks undoubtedly deserves a position right up there. Although they were not favored by many people, England turned in a remarkable and strong performance against the reigning champions. They asserted dominance in a variety of facets of the game, and most people would agree that it was rather sad for them to suffer a narrow loss by one point. In spite of the fact that England was the underdog going into the contest, they were able to execute their game plan to perfection by kicking on target and scrummaging with real vigor while also keeping the scoreboard pressure on South Africa throughout the entire encounter. However, as has been the case several times already in this competition, the changes that were made in the Springbok pack proved decisive and forced the Red Roses to concede penalties. The final penalty gave Handre Pollard the opportunity to send the defending champions into the final, and he did not make a mistake when he did so. In week one, Steve Borthwick's team defeated this opponent thanks to a stellar performance from George Ford, who kicked all 27 points in the match and got a 14-man England side off to a winning start. However, with the pressure off and based on the changes that have been made, we should see a lot more running with the ball in hand in this matchup.

Argentina starting lineup: 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 (c), 1. Thomas Gallo

England starting lineup: 15. Marcus Smith, 14. Freddie Steward, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Henry Arundell, 10. Owen Farrell (c), 9. Ben Youngs, 8. Ben Earl, 7. Sam Underhill, 6. Tom Curry, 5. Ollie Chessum, 4. Maro Itoje, 3. Will Stuart, 2. Theo Dan, 1. Ellis Genge

There is still dignity on the line, and both sets of players will want to give their fans something to cheer about one more time, despite the fact that this is not the match that either team had hoped to play this weekend. We believe that England will be able to bring home the bronze medal if they have been able to put the emotionally draining loss they suffered the week before behind them, as they have a strong roster.