Las Pumas-New Zealand – Australian Angus Gardner has been appointed as the referee

Australian Angus Gardner will officiate Las Pumas’ clash with the New Zealand All Blacks in one of the semi-finals of the France 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Gardner, who has already coached Argentina eight times, will arrive next Friday at 4pm (Argentine time) at the Stade de France in Paris, accompanied by Australian assistants Nick Perry and England’s Carl Dixon. The man in charge of the TMO (which is equivalent to VAR in football) is Welshman Ben Whitehouse.

Gardner refereed Las Pumas’ historic 25-15 win over New Zealand for the 2020 Rugby Championship, in which Nicolas Sanchez scored all the points for the national team.

He also officiated in the last clash between the two teams for the Rugby Championship in July this year (the All Blacks won 41-12).

Of the eight games Gardner has managed, Los Pumas have won two, lost five and drawn the remaining one, so the balance is negative, although on all these occasions the Albiceleste side have faced Tier 1 rivals.
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Angus Gardner’s History mentions Las Pumas:

-Argentina 12-41 All Blacks (2022)

-Australia 16-16 Argentina (2020)

-All Blacks 15-25 Argentina (2020).

-France 23-21 Argentina (2019).

-Argentina 16-20 All Blacks (2019).

-Argentina 32-19 South Africa (2018).

-All Blacks 39-22 Argentina (2017).

-Wales 24-20 Argentina (2016).