Samoa ready for whichever Argentina turns up for their Rugby World Cup clash

SAINT-ETIENNE, France — Prepare for the best and hope for the worst. That's all Samoa can do as it tries to gauge which Argentina will turn up for their Rugby World Cup match on Friday in Saint-Etienne.

Even Argentina can't be sure.

The Pumas lost to England in Marseille despite a man advantage for about 65 minutes. They had South Africa on the rack at Ellis Park then collapsed against the Springboks second string at home. They toppled England at Twickenham then lost to Wales in Cardiff. They beat the All Blacks for the first time in New Zealand then lost to them by 50 points a week later.

Argentina can be magnificent one week and pitiful the next. It all depends on where the players' heads are at. Coming to the Rugby World Cup, the Pumas were favored to top Pool D and its not beyond them yet. They said their preparation was the best ever but it didn't show in the opening match against England to their utter frustration.

The Pumas never got a mental grip on proceedings after the yellow card — later upgraded to red — to England flanker Tom Curry and doubt turned into confusion which turned into depression. The leadership went missing and the manner of the defeat was embarrassing because they didn't fire a shot and England won 27-10 without scoring a try.

Since then, the senior players have stepped up and encouraged open discussions about getting back on track. Coach Michael Cheika returned training to the basics and hammered the point home about discipline. Argentina coughed up 13 penalties in Marseille, which was about England's average this year. But England conceded only seven penalties.

“We have to be very disciplined when it comes to penalties, because in this tournament penalties cost a lot, as always,” Cheika said. "Also, we have to be disciplined in our organization, in defense and attack. It may take 60, 70 minutes until the opportunity is there, but you have to take it when it comes.

“You don't have to do something magical; it is about playing our game disciplined and very aggressive.”

Argentina is in a must-win situation. Lose on Friday and it can kiss goodbye its quarterfinal hopes. Win, and its back in the race with mainly England and Samoa for Pool D's two quarterfinal spots.

“You can see the pressure that is coming — what we have to lose or what we have to win,” former captain Agustin Creevy said. "I prefer to see what we have to win.

"We are training for this pressure. It's where we want to be. Nobody forces us to be here. We do it with a lot of passion, with a lot of love for the shirt, and for what we represent.

“(Being here) is the most privileged place we can think of. The older ones are there to absorb the pressure. Let the younger ones think about playing. We are ready to have a great game against Samoa.”

Samoa made a late start to the tournament and got its feet wet putting down Chile 43-10 last weekend. Chile, at its first Rugby World Cup, was on top of Samoa until the verge of halftime, when inside backs Tumua Manu and Ulupano Seuteni engineered a breakout try for Duncan Paia’aua. That settled the Samoans' nerves and they didn't look back.

Their three changes are all France-based professionals: Stade Francais tighthead prop Paul Alo-Emile, Toulon lock Brian Alainu'u'ese, and Montpellier wing Ben Lam, who will make his test debut. Lam played for New Zealand Sevens from 2012-16.

“The boys realise that we're in the tournament now, we've arrived at the party and there are no second chances,” Samoa coach Seilala Mapusua said.

“So this week in the whole squad there's been a real lift and an energy. We won't be short of motivation. We believe that if we stick to how we want to play and play the Manu Samoa way then I'm confident that we'll be able to stop Argentina.”

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Lineups:

Argentina: Juan Cruz Mallia, Emiliano Boffelli, Matias Moroni, Santiago Chocobares, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Carreras, Gonzalo Bertranou; Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Matias Alemanno, Guido Petti, Eduardo Bello, Julian Montoya (captain), Thomas Gallo. Reserves: Agustín Creevy, Mayco Vivas, Francisco Gómez Kodela, Pedro Rubiolo, Rodrigo Bruni, Tomas Cubelli, Nicolas Sanchez, Lucio Cinti.

Samoa: Duncan Paia'aua, Nigel Ah-Wong, Ulupano Seuteni, Tumua Manu, Ben Lam, Christian Leali’ifano, Jonathan Taumateine; Steven Luatua, Fritz Lee, Theo McFarland, Chris Vui (captain), Brian Alainu'u'ese, Paul Alo-Emile, Seilala Lam, James Lay. Reserves: Sama Malolo, Charlie Faumuina, Michael Ala'alatoa, Taleni Agaese Seu, Sa Jordan Taufua, Melani Matavao, D'Angelo Leuila, Danny Toala.