Wales take on Argentina in the first of our quarter-finals after the former swept Pool C and the latter got through a stern test against Japan in their final outing of the group stage to finish second in Pool D.
There is one area of this head-to-head where the stats may surprise a few: the set-piece. Of the eight quarter-finalists, the team with the best scrum success is Wales (98%), while traditional set-piece powerhouse Argentina has the worst (80%).
However, a lot of what these teams have brought to the tournament so far is less surprising. Of the eight teams to qualify for the knockouts, Argentina play with the quickest ruck speed at 3.37s, while Wales sit in last place with an average ruck speed of 5.11s. Wales have kicked the ball away a lot as well; with an average of 30.8 kicks in play per game putting them second only behind England.
So Wales are happy to slow the ball down and play the territorial game, but what can Argentina bring on the counter-attack? The Pumas are second in the charts for defenders beaten per game (32.5) but they will have to do well to penetrate the Welsh wall in Marseille. Not only have Wales averaged the most tackles per game of the final eight with 166.8 - 42 more per game than the next best - but they have managed the best tackle success (88%) as well, which shows how much they trust their process.
"I watch Wales now and they have their DNA back,” former Wales centre Jamie Roberts said on the Official Rugby World Cup 2023 podcast. “They have some wonderful players but they are playing together, with a purpose, that pressure game. They are up there with the top sides in the world with how they pressure sides."
One thing to be said is that Argentina’s two top players for defenders beaten are winger Mateo Carreras (17) and prop Thomas Gallo (16), which shows that their threats come from everywhere. If they’re able to be the unstoppable forces that meet Wales’ immovable object on Saturday, this quarter-final will go down to the wire.
“Wales is going to come to try and do their thing, exert that pressure on to us,” Argentina assistant coach Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe said. “They are very identified with Warren Gatland's philosophy of putting pressure to the opposition and being a combative team.
“We have to play an intense kicking game, and when given the opportunity have a firing attack. It sounds simple but this requires a lot of work.”