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All Blacks player ratings vs Argentina | The Rugby Championship
By Ben Smith
The All Blacks suffered a 38-30 defeat to Argentina in Wellington in the opening game of the 2024 Rugby Championship.
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After leading the entire way, but with Argentina close in pursuit, a bad final quarter saw Los Pumas take the lead through hooker Augustin Creevy.
The All Blacks bench really failed to fire with the set-piece coming apart in the final quarter.
Here’s how the All Blacks rated:
1. Ethan de Groot – 6
A scrum-less first half was a surprise, but De Groot got through a ton of tackles finishing with 12. Off at 58.
2. Codie Taylor – 6
A solid lineout tonight with 14/14 with Taylor on the park. Added five tackles. Conceded two penalties.
3. Tyrel Lomax – 5
No scrums for Lomax. Defended well but was penalised once for an ineffective cleanout.
4. Tupou Vaa’i – 7
Added punch in defence with some hard hitting with his 15 tackles. Was a reliable lineout option.
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5. Sam Darry – 8
Impressive performance on his maiden start. Nailed the lineout with safe hands as the lead jumper. Bagged a try to boot. Added eight carries and
6. Ethan Blackadder – 5
A mixed bag for Blackadder at No 6. Pinged for not rolling in the first half. Had trouble clearing out Matera and co. Penalised for a high shot in the second half leading to three points for Argentina. High work rate with 19 tackles but three penalties conceded costly.
7. Dalton Papali’i – 7
Strong showing from Papali’i. Won a big turnover in the first half.
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8. Ardie Savea – 7
A big night with ball in hand with 13 carries from Savea with 10 tackles. Came up with a big turnover late that gave the All Blacks a chance down by five but lineout troubles left it squandered.
9. TJ Perenara – 6.5
A couple of kicks charged down and the exits at times didn’t make much metres. But he played a steady hand and produced a key assist for Mark Tele’a in the second half.
10. Damian McKenzie – 7
Once again the life of the All Blacks attack. One try assist in the first half and sparked the other with a chip and regather. Had a game-changing pass that forced a five metre scrum for Argentina. From there, the Pumas hit the lead.
11. Mark Tele’a – 6
Was kept under wraps by the Pumas. Pressured heavily on kickoffs, Tele’a failed to get the tackle busts he usually does but still finished with six. Scored a nice try in the second half.
12. Jordie Barrett – 6
Toiled hard all night but didn’t have a game-changing performance.
13. Anton Lienert-Brown – 7
Produced a good performance in his first start since Uruguay. Had two line breaks, one a try, in the first half. Got caught out on defence on Cinti’s try. Added a turnover won and seven tackles.
14. Sevu Reece – 5
Seven carries with two line breaks. A nice injection but off early at 49.
15. Beauden Barrett – 6
Had some big plays in the first half including a stellar assist for Sam Darry. Tried to influence the game but didn’t get much space in the second half.
Reserves
16. Asafo Aumua – 2 – Really struggled at lineout time with his throwing which really cost the All Blacks.
17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi – 4 – A nice cameo with six tackles.
18. Fletcher Newell – 3 – Had a costly scrum penalty in an attacking zone.
19. Josh Lord – 5 – One of the best of the bench but still couldn’t stablise the lineout.
20. Wallace Sititi – N/A – Tried to impact the game but ended up conceding a penalty at the end for the last three points.
21. Cortez Ratima – 5 – Added tempo and looked good running the attack.
22. Rieko Ioane – N/A – A couple of touches for Ioane but not enough time to influence the game.
23. Will Jordan – 4 – Had one line break called back from a forward pass. Jordan partly guilty for front running a little bit.
Razor inherited a dysfunctional team, who were coached by a dysfunctional team, who were mismanaged by a dysfunctional NZRFU.
It's kind of like a Fraudster has been banged up for 6 years and some kind soul gives him a job at an accounting firm and wonder why he still steals.
Up until Saturday the band aids have worked. No it's time to "amputate"
I could hear the arthritis creaking, as at least 5 of the All Blacks tried desperately to beat father time. I hope Razor has a few "Farewell speeches and at least 5 gold watches at Tuesday's training session.
I am sure the Godfather, (Silver Lakes) won't be happy.
Blackadder played like Baldrick. No room for journeymen. Lets blood the young guys, Sititi etc. Could handle some losses now fast tracking talent, but losing games with stop gap plodders is not acceptable Razor
Some more accurate scores
Ardie 5, TJ 3 DMac 2, Jordie 3 ALB 5, Sevu off early for good reason 3, Razor 1
All the inside backs were poor. TJ was laboured, two steps and a loopy pass. Dmac played first five like we feared he would, no control. Jordie was anonymous, he may be tall but doesn't make any use of it. All 3 of them just shuffled on pressure to the players outside them. The wingers never got the ball in space. Also BB turning his back on Dmac's pass, which resulted in the 5 metre scrum was just amateurish.
Havnt a clue what razor has been doing, but we struggle to throw a ball straight into a line out, Tj is about as slow as a guy going to the bathroom with no legs, Mackenzie looks like he needs medication with that silly grin and worst of all what is Barret doing in the centers, he looks so out of place . Cmon Razor make the hard calls, if they arnt performing put someone else in. This is a much harder job than coaching ya mates at the crusaders.
Robertson has never coached outside of cosy Christchurch, with everything laid on by the Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. He looks little boy lost with his mates who are mostly coaching failures. We were promised an exciting new era but it's more like a new error?
Need a coach rating? On that performance Joe S might be thinking of winning the Bledisloe?
Narawa was outstanding for BOP yesterday. "Yesterday"
would probably be a good song for Robertson right now.
Bring Back Fossie :)
Usually don't mind Ben's articles but he's right off the mark with his ratings here. In general he appears to be directing the poor performance at the feet of the replacements.
Our loosies are being outgunned and we need to acknowledge this and change our whole philosophy about what it is, we are seeking from them individually and collectively. Ever since we have adopted the NZ Cricket's policy of playing all rounders in key positions ie; loose forwards, we have had a number of middling displays and results.
So this is my solution, Ardie to seven - our best loosie without doubt for years now, Sititi to eight - on evidence to this point the best ball carrier / line bender out of the lot and our other world class forward Scott Barrett to number six. I know everyone says that he was one of the reasons we were done over by England in '19 WC semi final but we were totally out muscled and out enthused from the kick off and were on the back foot throughout the match. No one player was going to change that. Ardie once again was our best on the day and he couldn't.
Barrett will give us that big bodied ball carrier we want at six, he has a huge engine that goes all game, he is one of our most reliable defenders and he is a world class lineout option that will effectively give us three locks to throw to.
But we have to be brave and give them time to come right as a unit because I believe with our 2 world class forwards acting in tandem leading the way, we will become far more effective.
That's my five cents worth anyway. Go the ABs.
Scooter finishing the game at 6 perhaps but he's a world class lock and a very unproven 6...lock is also our position of most need.
Barrett at 6 ? Don't you learn from history- it's even tried and failed already eg Yokohama 2019! Also Ardie refuses to play 7.
Do Rugby Pass actually pay Ben Smith for this article. It's a continuation of the rubbish he invariably produces. It can't be too difficult to find someone with some credibility and who has some basic knowledge of the game to do these player ratings.
What game was Ben watching, 9 10 and 12 need to be dropped out of squad hopefully the Dmac experiment is over.
MacKenzie was a revolving door on defence and absent on attack, I would be embarrassed to hand in my timesheet after that performance. Critical errors leading to 3 (three!!!!) of the Pumas tries.
In the 3 games under Razor he has a negative points difference impact.
How much longer do you give a 29 year old with 50 caps to """develop""". Bring in some true young blood and start truly developing for the world cup.
What younon about smack played damn well the combination of dmac and bb is great I knew you losers were gonna pipe up I bet you think that RM the one that lost us 2 world cups lost us more games than any other 10 lost us our biggest defeat is better than dmac
Would it not be better to play BB at 10 and WJ at 15?
Ben Smith 0 for all the Bok bashing. That's what you get for being a d!ck.
10/10 for taking the bait.
Ben, what game did you watch to give Ardie a 7 when he cost us the game. With Cortez right behind him, he picked up the ball behind a loose scrum and threw a wild pass that lead to the Argentine winning try
Let’s review Ben’s performance on this article.
For starters… “Added eight carries and “
You can’t end a sentence with “and” or without punctuation. That’s basic grammar.
Or he didn’t proof read his own article. Either because he couldn’t read properly through the tears he was fighting back. Or worse because he is just lazy. Either reason unacceptably unprofessional.
If he is going to give Dalton Papali’i a 7 - he should provide more than just a one liner. Like “he won a big turnover”. Papali’i must have done more than that to be one of the best AB players on the field tonight. As an accountant, I would expect Ben to know that he needs to provide context to the numbers he produces.
I could go on - but instead I’ll save time and give Ben a 3/10 for this article. Ideally he should be benched as a RP writer.
Charles Dickens started a sentence with "And".
And while I have your attention, who cares what someone else rates a player?
Jordie was a 4 on other sites. Invisible. Please bring back Havili. We need his creativity.
Bring back Havilli to carry the water bottles, thats about all
Havili is trash what you on about alb in 12 and proctor in 13 havili didn't even play well at super rugby level how will he play well at international level
Actually it was a 3. Most overrated AB of this generation. Only became an AB because he's Beauden's brother.
Ben Smith’s Poophol must be itching.
Has anyone seen or heard from him?