Two tips for the third play play-off between New Zealand and Wales.
The penultimate game of the 2019 Rugby World Cup takes place on Friday morning with New Zealand taking on Wales in the third place play-off in Tokyo.
The game marks the end of the Warren Gatland-era for Wales after 12-years in charge. While head coach Steve Hansen and captain Kieran Read bow out for the All Blacks.
After their heart-breaking loss to South Africa, Wales have made nine changes to their side with injuries mounting up throughout the squad. There is no George North, Aaron Wainwright or Leigh Halfpenny – so the task facing Gatland’s side is huge.
While New Zealand have made seven changes to their side, you could argue that the side that will take the field Friday is as strong as the team who were beaten 19-7 by England last weekend – particularly with Ben Smith, Rieko Ioane and Sonny Bill Williams all returning to the backs.
12 months ago Ioane was considered the world’s finest winger and his strike rate is quite unbelievable (24 tries in 28 tests) – but the Auckland star has fallen out of favour since the Rugby Championship.
He returns to the starting XV this week with a major point to prove and I think he will remind the world why he is one of the finest finishers we’ve seen in recent years. In his only previous outing against Wales he scored two tries in the 33-18 win at Cardiff in 2017.
After their loss last week the All Blacks will be hurting and they will want to show they are still the standard setters in world rugby. With a relatively inexperienced Wales back-three, Ioane can add to his 24 New Zealand tries - 4/1 for him to score 2 or more tries in the game would be my bet.
In the last five meetings between the two sides the All Blacks have triumphed by an average of 21 points, with the lowest winning margin being 14. Wales are ravaged by injury and will be emotionally drained from their loss to South Africa – so at 16/5 the All Blacks by 21-30 points would be my second selection.
