QUITE a few people may have been surprised when I tipped Argentina to beat Ireland last weekend.

And I may be surprising even more by backing them to beat Australia in the semi-finals on Sunday.

For me, Australia are the weakest team left in the competition and if Argentina can keep on playing like they have been doing the I think they’ll get through to the final.

In my opinion, that would be great for the game as well because we need more countries to step up to the plate and start challenging.

It would also show that Argentina fully deserve their inclusion in the Rugby Championship, which was formerly known as the Tri-Nations.

When they were first included alongside New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in that event they received plenty of criticism and it was suggested they would good enough to be there.

But they’ve improved an awful lot and are now showing they fully deserve their place alongside such illustrious company.

In the other semi-final, South Africa take on New Zealand, who really do look untouchable at the moment.

Because of that, I really do believe South Africa beating the All Blacks would be more of a shock than if Argentina were to win.

SCOTLAND COULD HAVE AVOIDED REFEREE CONTROVERSY

THE main talking point from the quarter-finals way the controversial way Australia saw off Scotland.

They won the game with a penalty right at the end and there can be no denying referee Craig Joubert made the wrong decision.

I think when it’s such a big call like that in the last minute you need to blow your whistle and then be sure of the decision, not the other way round.

I think he rushed it really because it should definitely have been a scrum and not a penalty.

Unfortunately, he was not able to ask the television match official for clarification as he is not unable to make a judgement on those kinds of incidents.

The referee certainly didn’t do himself any favours by running off the pitch at the final whistle.

But Scotland definitely played a part in their own downfall as well.

If they had caught the ball from their line-out in the first place then there wouldn’t have been any of this confusion or controversy in the first place.

It was bad decision making on behalf of the Scots, it was only the hooker’s second or third throw and they decided to go to the back of the line.

However, all that seems to have been forgotten with the focus firmly on the referee.

GLAD TO BE BACK IN ACTION FOR SOUTHEND

CLOSER to home, it was great to be back in action for Southend at the weekend after recovering from an Achilles injury to line up against Clifton.

I managed to play the full 80 minutes but it was disappointing that we could only get a draw because I thought we were the dominant team.

Unfortunately, we made a couple of mistakes which resulted in them scoring tries and we will not to cut them out at Old Elthamians this weekend.