Julian Montoya insists Argentina’s maiden two victories over New Zealand will hand the Pumas total belief in Friday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks.
Argentina will face New Zealand in Paris, bidding to reach their first-ever World Cup final, but the ever-daunting All Blacks stand in their path.
Michael Cheika’s Pumas beat New Zealand for the first time in their history in November 2020, with a 25-15 win in Sydney. Then Argentina toppled New Zealand again, but this time on Kiwi soil, with a 25-18 triumph in Christchurch in August last year.
Now captain Montoya believes those wins have reduced the All Black myth in the Pumas’ eyes.
“As soon as you get on that field now, you believe you can win,” said Montoya.
“It’s true we have some firsts under our belts. We were the first Argentina team to beat New Zealand, and that confirms we can beat anyone.
“I have full confidence in our team and our players. This is the moment to play the best game of our lives and give everything.”
Argentina have made one change from their quarter-final win over Wales to take on the All Blacks, with scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou replacing Tomas Cubelli.
Former London Irish hooker Agustin Creevy will become the oldest World Cup semi-finalist at 38 years and 219 days, surpassing Victor Matfield’s 38 years and 166 days for South Africa in 2015.
Montoya hailed Argentina for hitting back from their tournament-opening 27-10 defeat by England to press through to the semi-finals.
“It was difficult after that match but we always kept the faith and we know the work we have been doing,” said Montoya.
“Internally we knew we were ready, we needed to work on some details. This is how we face these difficult moments. We can face problems at any point but our confidence in our players and staff made us believe.
“We have worked on our physicality a lot, we wanted to be in top form in that regard. There has been a long preparation, it’s good to see we are finishing games better than our opposition.”
Argentina team to play New Zealand
Starting XV: J Cruz Mallia; E Boffelli, L Cinti, S Chocobares, M Carreras; S Carreras, G Bertranou; T Gallo, J Montoya (capt), F Gomez Kodela; G Petti, T Lavanini; J Martin Gonzalez, M Kremer, F Isa.
Replacements: A Creevy, J Sclavi, E Bello, M Alemanno, R Bruni, L Bazan Velez, N Sanchez, M Moroni.
