Both too close to call, both simarly ranked teams, only one team has never made it to a semi final from the bunch though...
Can an ascendant Wales squeek past a well firing Argentina who have perhaps failed to spark this tournament
Can a 17 match unbeaten run Ireland get the monkey off their backs and make it through versus a 3 time world cup winning union?
Don't miss either!
Yup. ABs clearly sandbagging pre tourney it seems
The SA & France results do need to be taken with a grain of salt. Jordie Barrett is a bit of a sleeper reputation wise but my impression is that his selection at 12 is what really nails the ABs best backline. Obviously 9 & 10 are critical positions, but Barrett at 12 both stiffens the defence, provides a big body to run it up on attack and gives a great kicking option (off the tee for long distance ones too).
In the forwards, as much as I hate his presence in the team, Frizell does make a huge difference. He's as big as Akira Ioane but uses his size in a very physical way. Akira probably ought to have played in the backs as a centre in hindsight, but its far too late now. Frizell takes a huge amount of the workload off Savea, and that lets us have another jackal which is critical.
One other selection that I think made a difference was on the left wing. Telea was playing too well to drop; but Fainga'anuku is less prone to break too far from support and is very strong in the rucks. Telea ruling himself out through misbehaviour has potentially lost him his place for all of the finals.