Rugby World Cup 2023 LIVE: Score and updates from Wales vs Argentina as Biggar and Williams return

Warren Gatland’s side arrive at this stage unbeaten, topping Pool C to set up this encounter with the Pumas, who have bounced back well from a disappointing defeat to England in their tournament opener.

The battle between the remodelled units at the base of the scrum shapes as just one key battleground in an intriguing tactical encounter.

Here are three key areas that could prove decisive on Saturday.

A relatively even split of Wales and Argentina fans outside the Stade Velodrome, making their way off the metro and into this wonderful arena. The Welsh contingent are struggling rather more with the heat than the South Americans, who are bringing all sorts of passion and energy, dancing to the brass band on the steps up to the gates. It should be lively today – the atmosphere here on the opening weekend was electric and the arrival of the knockout stages should only heighten the intensity.

Seven Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for Ireland’s men’s team, seven defeats. Throw in a quarter-final play-off defeat in 1999 and their record reads: eight knockout games, eight losses. For a team that has won Six Nations grand slams, secured autumn and summer tour wins over all the southern hemisphere giants and been ranked No 1 in the world, it’s an inexplicable jinx.

Those eight previous losses don’t matter, even the 46-14 humbling to these very same All Blacks at this very stage in Japan four years. This is Ireland’s time, right?

Eddie Jones is set to seal a return to Japan, a report has claimed, as speculation intensifies over the Wallabies coach’s future.

The veteran coach returned to Australia at the start of 2023 but has endured a difficult start to his second stint in charge, culminating in a first-ever pool stage exit from a men’s Rugby World Cup.

A young Wallabies squad were beaten by Fiji and Wales in Pool D, with the Pacific Islanders’ losing bonus point against Portugal on Sunday sufficient to seal an early departure for Jones’s side.

Japan coach Jamie Joseph has left his role, leaving a vacancy in a position Jones previously filled between 2012 and the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The Rugby World Cup has reached the quarter-final stage, with the last eight decided on a thrilling final pool stage weekend.

The defeat did not prevent the Pacific Island side progressing, though, with a losing bonus point enough to knock Australia out of the tournament.

How do the eight remaining nations stack up in our power rankings? Here, The Independent assesses how every country is looking as we reach the knockout phase.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has hit out at critics of the lopsided Rugby World Cup draw, suggesting that nations unhappy about facing tough opposition have “just got to deal with it”.

Jac Morgan has received a ringing endorsement of his all-round quality as he prepares for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final appointment with Argentina.

Wales co-captain Morgan is expected to skipper the side, as he did for critical pool-stage victories over Fiji and Australia, against the Pumas in Marseille.

The Ospreys forward has arguably been Wales’ outstanding player of the tournament and it has earned him acclaim after displaying similar attributes to former back-row stars Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric.

Warburton was 22 – a year younger than Morgan – when he captained Wales to the 2011 World Cup semi-finals and similarities have often been made between the two.

After spending so much of the first half of this year searching for a sense of direction and calm, the feeling of contentment and confidence around Wales this week has been clear.

Warren Gatland’s side are right where they want to be. It helps, of course, that the squad have spent their days leading up to a quarter-final meeting with Argentina at a beachside idyll in charming Toulon, away from the intensity of Marseille along the French south coast.

Warren Gatland says it would be “a huge achievement” if Wales reach their third Rugby World Cup semi-final in the last four tournaments by beating Argentina on Saturday.

Gatland’s team face the Pumas in Marseille after dominating a pool that some thought they might not qualify from following a dismal Six Nations campaign last season.

Four successive wins and 19 points collected saw them leave sides like Fiji and Australia in their slipstream to set up the Pumas clash at Stade Velodrome.

think it is absolutely tremendous that we’ve got four nations from the northern hemisphere in with a shot of the Rugby World Cup semi-finals. Everyone used to associate the World Cup with the southern hemisphere teams. They were the best of the best, and had been for generations. But international rugby is becoming more of a level playing field. The boys from the northern hemisphere are really starting to step up their game and show what they are about.

We did learn a huge amount from the southern hemisphere and now it is about nullifying them, and getting better. The players in the northern hemisphere are making the game better to watch, and the Gallagher Premiership, Top 14 and United Rugby Championship (URC) have become tough leagues to play in. That is only going to make an international team stronger. It has made a massive difference over the past 10 years.

I remember being a kid and watching Super Rugby on Friday and Saturday mornings, waking up at the crack of dawn and absolutely loving it. Having played in the Premiership and what is now the URC, I truly believe that they are now the best team competitions.