Rugby World Cup news LIVE: Argentina and New Zealand announce semi-final lineups

After an exciting quarter-final weekend in France, the final four players for the Rugby World Cup have been determined.

How do the four remaining nations fare in our power rankings? Here, The Independent evaluates the semi-finalists:

But the Pumas will be in contention against the All Blacks, a team they have beaten twice in the four-year cycle leading up to this tournament and who may have a few physical weaknesses that Argentina’s gainline winners can exploit.

Gonzalo Bertranou replaces Santiago Cubelli at scrum-half, with last week’s starting nine dropped entirely from the 23.

Head coach Ian Foster has set New Zealand’s matchday 23 for his team’s semi-final against Argentina on Friday. Left winger Mark Tele’a is back in Leicester Fainga’anuku’s starting line-up.

Sam Whitelock comes into the second row as a direct swap for Brodie Retallick, who moves to the bench where he is joined by substitute hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, while Dane Coles leaves.

New Zealand XV: 15-Beauden Barrett, 14-Will Jordan, 13-Rieko Ioane, 12-Jordie Barrett, 11-Mark Tele’a, 10-Richie Mo’unga, 9-Aaron Smith; 1-Ethan de Groot, 2-Codie Taylor, 3-Tyrel Lomax, 4-Samuel Whitelock, 5-Scott Barrett, 6-Shannon Frizell, 7-Sam Cane, 8-Ardie Savea

Substitute:

16-Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17-Tamaiti Williams, 18-Fletcher Newell, 19-Brodie Retallick, 20-Dalton Papali’i, 21-Finlay Christie 22-Damian McKenzie, 23-Anton Lienert-Brown

Argentina head coach Michael Cheika has brought in scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou for Tomás Cubelli. This is the only change from the team that beat Wales in the quarter-finals for Friday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Saint-Denis.

Argentina XV: 15-Juan Cruz Mallia, 14-Emiliano Boffelli, 13-Lucio Cinti, 12-Santiago Chocobares, 11-Mateo Carreras, 10-Santiago Carreras. 9-Gonzalo Bertranou, 1-Thomas Gallo, 2-Julián Montoya, 3-Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4-Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 5-Tomas Lavanini, 6-Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7-Marcos Kremer, 8-Facundo Isa.

Substitute:

16-Agustín Creevy, 17-Joel Sclavi, 18-Eduardo Bello, 19-Matias Alemanno, 20-Rodrigo Bruni, 21-Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22-Nicolas Sanchez, 23-Matías Moroni

Argentina coach Michael Cheika will be delighted if his team reach the Rugby World Cup final in their semi-final against the All Blacks on Friday.

“We knew the first game would be a bit tough for us. We learned a lot because there were many first world champions there.

“They (his players) learned a lot from that game in terms of dealing with what is knockout football and what is not knockout football – every game since has been knockout.

“Even in the game against England we showed a lot of fight but we didn’t handle the situation well. We still gave plenty. We have to remember that there were nine shots in this game, we didn’t give up a shot.

“You have to look at your squad, the team you’re going to be playing against, the turnaround time and just try to plan everything so that it works, to add a little variety.”

After his side’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina on Saturday, Gatland placed his future in the hands of the Welsh Rugby Union.

The 60-year-old New Zealander pointed to a termination clause in his contract and said: “If the union wants to get rid of me, that’s up to them.”

But asked at a press conference on Wednesday whether he would stick through the next World Cup in Australia, Gatland said: “Absolutely. That is the plan.”

Defense coach Scott McLeod said the All Blacks were determined to be fully prepared for their semi-final with the Pumas at the Stade de France.

“Last week I thought our level of detail, energy and focus was first class and gave the players the confidence to perform under pressure,” McLeod said. “In 2019 we didn’t do that well in our week before England and that’s not necessarily because of the competition but just the quality of what we put in that week.

“Our captain Kieran Read was unable to train and there were disruptions. So we have to make sure that we don’t have any disruptions like that and that we build the week with the quality and focus that we did last week. And we respect Argentina, they are a different beast to Ireland and we will build up the week slowly. We have to be enthusiastic about that, and that’s what we will do.”

Irish captain Johnny Sexton had tears in his eyes as he reflected on the “devastating” end to his illustrious career following the heartbreaking World Cup exit to New Zealand.

Andy Farrell’s Class of 2023 wanted to make history in Paris by becoming the first Irish team to reach the last four of the tournament.

But the world’s top-ranked team trailed for most of a thrilling contest before falling agonizingly short, and the quarter-final curse continued with a 28-24 defeat.