1
Los Pumas upset All Blacks to begin Rugby Championship on almighty high
By Ned Lester
The All Blacks were hunting a rare Wellington win when they and Los Pumas took the field to begin their respective Rugby Championship campaigns.
ADVERTISEMENT
It would be a night of history for Los Pumas, who claimed just their second win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil. Not only that, the South Americans would run up their highest-ever scoreline against New Zealand; 38 points. The Kiwis tallied 30.
The Pumas were the first to threaten in the game, with an early string of phases moving the ball wide before an intercept returned possession to the hosts.
Another attacking chance from Los Pumas came when Matias Moroni used his foot to disrupt an All Blacks pass, but the speed of Ethan Blackadder on a friendly angle was enough to bring the winger down.
New Zealand went to the contestable kick twice early from around halfway and while Argentina won the aerial battle, the hosts found an upper hand in the driving maul.
Damian McKenzie got New Zealand on the board first by punishing Argentina’s ill-discipline, which was a theme for the South Americans early.
A theme for the Kiwis was loose passes, a few of which were picked up by Argentina.
McKenzie sparked some magic from deep in his half when the playmaker put a chip kick in behind the Pumas line, recollected the ball on the bounce and found Beauden Barrett, who put a kick of his own towards the posts. Codie Taylor won the race but the bounce was just out of reach, eventually falling into the arms of Sam Darry for the try in his first All Blacks start.
ADVERTISEMENT
Santiago Chocobares ran a perfect line off Pablo Matera’s shoulder in broken play to make a clean break for the visitors, drawing the last line of defence before finding midfield partner Lucio Cinti who ran in the try, reducing the deficit to five.
Another Pumas indiscretion at the breakdown allowed McKenzie to step up to the tee once more, and the lead was extended to eight courtesy of the 40-metre drive.
Argentina’s discipline looked to tidy up as the game entered its second quarter, and the team profited by winning a penalty straight out in front of the posts. Santiago Carreras nailed an easy kick.
Both teams were looking to play quickly and freely, and while it wasn’t always rewarded with metres, the ambition was clear.
ADVERTISEMENT
New Zealand tried a contestable kick from within their own 22 just shy of halftime, but when Sevu Reece batted the ball backwards it was collected on the run by Mateo Carreras, who made short work of Damian McKenzie on his way to the tryline. The score and conversion made it a 20-15 lead to the hosts at halftime.
After 10 first-half penalties went against them, most around the breakdown, it was an Argentine turnover at the ruck that got the visitors in the game early in the second period. Carreras got his team in a great position with the kick before a powerful driving maul fell over the line.
Carreras’ conversion handed the visitors their first lead of the game.
Just a minute later, a penalty was awarded to the All Blacks and McKenzie claimed the three points to regain the lead by one.
20-year-old debutant Efrain Elias was among the first replacements to enter the game in the 46th minute, before the anticipated return of Will Jordan in the 49th minute, coming on for Sevu Reece on the right wing.
A tackle by Blackadder was looked over by the TMO but ultimately ruled to be just a penalty. Carreras made the most of the opportunity by claiming three points and the lead.
Deep in Pumas territory, the hosts manipulated a gap in tight to send Mark Tele’a over untouched to begin the final quarter of the contest. A five-point lead came from it thanks to the boot of McKenzie. Four minutes later, Carreras brought that lead back to two.
A Will Jordan break led to Damian McKenzie getting over the line, but the play was called back for a forward pass and fans were left to remain on the edge of their seats with the slim margin of separation on the scoreboard.
Play got scrappy for the hosts after a lineout steal, with Ardie Savea throwing a loose pass from the base of the ruck, eventually resulting in Rieko Ioane having to place the ball in goal.
From the ensuing scrum, the Pumas were able to wrestle over the line thanks to the class of Agustin Creevy. The visitors converted to claim a 5-point lead with 11 minutes remaining.
Los Pumas pressed into All Blacks territory time and time again in the final 10 minutes, but some breakdown heroics saved New Zealand just as the visitors were lining up the drop-goal attempt that would have pushed the lead beyond seven.
That was until a penalty handed Argentina a chance at three points off the tee, and despite slipping over, Carreras’ kick sailed between the uprights and made it 38-30. That scoreline would survive the final moments, making for more history on New Zealand soil for an ecstatic Los Pumas outfit.
There seems to be the same confusion in the ABs on Saturday as there was when Foster, Plumtree and Mooar were in charge.
I think Razor has made a huge mistake with his coaching team - too many coaches must be giving confusing messages. MacDonald, Holland, Hansen have never coached outside NZ, have never coached international rugby and are not even specialist coaches for the area they have been designated. Hence you can see out attack, defence and backs are back to the Fozzie headless chicken days.
Even Jason Ryan needs to be challenged about how average we are at the breakdown and did you see the maul when the Pumas drove the AB scrum back 20m!!! When Sititi came on he played blindside and Savea stayed at #8 - what bloody nonsense!
I just hope Ardie's performance as captain on Saturday finally quietens those fans who advocated for him to be captain. After Creevy scored his try, do you think Savea got the team together to focus on what they must do - nope! He is NOT captain material, a great player but not a captain.
Then Jordie is so OFF FORM its embarrassing it truly is, I counted at least 3 major mistakes and of course he continues not to distribute in an effective way.
OK there were no scrums but how many times was Lomax and De Groot even mentioned, except when Lomax was striped of the ball which led to the Pumas first try.
Blackadder huffs and puffs - he works hard but hes too much of a light weight too easily knocked off the ball - his missed tackle from the 5m scrum capped it all
Send Telea, Perenara, Blackadder, Taylor back to NPC.
When has Leon MacDonald achieved anything other than mediocrity?
What a shambles from the All Blacks. Please Razor move Barrett into 10, also move, Telea to 14 Jordan 15 and Clarke 11. Put Reiko back in ALB was not there on D.
If we play like this vs Boks we will get destroyed, they were awesome vs OZ. We just looked terrible, a blow for a hardcore fan. Fozzy probably the only one a little happy but probably not as he loves Black. Full credit to the Pumas you dealt to us. Going to be a long year, maybe 4.
Arguably the most ineot Ive ever seen the ABs. Leaderless...Headless chook performance. Well done the Argies for popping the bubble
Can’t take nothing away from the pumas , they came to win and they won . I watched there post match interviews and they have winning attitudes with winning ambitions . Congratulations …
Now to wait and see how the All Blacks respond .
ABs defence got picked to pieces in this game. Having looked very solid against England they were chasing shadows against Argentina. Terrible defensive reads all through the game. Argentina made many easy metres, finding open space and soft shoulders on most possessions.
So straight out the gates in January I believe it was, this website came in blasting how the boks would stumbled, the ABS would dominate and then some other horse sh1t about certain NH teams. I called Bull Shart then and warned - the ABs would need to rebuild - and they’d be lucky with an 70% win rate. And my oh my do they need to rebuild.
For starters - the pressure would be on Razor from day one because, well, it’s New Zealand. New Zealand must win. New Zealand can’t lose. Shouldn’t lose.
Add the pressure of expectation from the NZ public - who savagely turned on Ian Foster like he was a pariah of the state, in favour of the messiah Razor Robertson. It was teed up for disaster from the time Razor was appointed, his shadow hanging over Ian Foster since Bombela.
Add the pressure of equity partners.
Then the trouble of losing players like Mounga. The players abroad problem.
But now Razor’s biggest problem is that this is not a team that is rebuilding. This is some weird version b of Ian Fosters era.
The forwards are not looking too hot. And Ryan is looking exposed.
There seems to be a tendency to go with big names over youth or experimentation. Jordy Barret at 12 must come to an end. You can’t tell me NZ doesn’t have a good enough 12 somewhere knocking on the door.
Will Jordan has been called NZ’s fullback everywhere. Even in tonight’s interview “NZ Fullback” under his name. When has he played fullback? What are we taking about. Play him there already and stop talking about it.
TJ was poor tonight despite his ratings. Cam Roigard being out is a real pity - but my goodness NZ needs to get some depth at 9.
I’ve never seen an AB backline look so toothless. Typically when an AB wing got a ball on space it was trytime. These days everyone is cutting them down.
Even the narrative around size and the way the ABs are playing the game direct up the middle feels like some middle of the road copout of the ABs traditional strengths.
If Razor is going to rebuild then for heavens sakes rebuild. Get some fresh players on take risks and inject some life into the squad. It’s looking pretty flat.
You’re better off losing throwing the kitchen sink than losing playing it safe.
Sorry NZ. It’s only because we love a strong AB side over this that I’m saying this.
Its ok Bull Shark we are down on our team. You are pretty right. Meanwhile your team looked awesome. Well done Boks and Argentina. I honestly think our coaching has gone downhill since the World Cup as the team looks like a ship lost at sea. Which is pretty poor. Razor is inexperienced at the top level, I hope he improves he probably will but this year will be ugly as.
Nail on the head there. The lack of innovation from Razor has been perplexing. The AB's still seem largely selected on the basis of hierarchy rather than form. I thought we'd see this come to an end with more risk taken on some of the obvious young talent we have around. So far, apart from Aumua's meltdown today, the young players who have had a run have shined this year, but it's never enough to break the status quo. Well I guess now it's a good wake up call and test for Razor, let's see how he responds.
Well done Argentina for staying in the fight, drawing it close and winning. The second Test wont be a walkover like last time.
It looked to me like Lienert-Brown was given an instruction to rush out and close Argentina's passing route to the wing. It was a disaster with Argentina making 2-3 clear line breaks before their try. After the turnover for 1st Argentina try, the NZ defense had to drift. Lienert-Brown inexplicable came out, stayed out, leaving a gap the size of Cook Strait for Arhgtnina to break through. Maybe NZ backs having bad day, but it may be that they thought they needed a lot of improvement to best SA and were trying some kind of rush defense effort on the hoof. Badly backfired obviously if so.
One of the poorest defensive plays from an experienced midfielder you're ever likely to see. He did some very nice things but played like a try must be scored immediately. Case in point after his great line break followed by an incredibly low percentage pass. Very few times out of 100 does that end up with NZ in possession, let alone a try being scored. Totally lacked composure offensively and defensively.
Pumas were fully deserved winners as best team on the pitch. The ABs have got a lot of work to do in a week. I've been a DMac supporter but no structure at all, it looked like a game of touch in the park. Maybe Plummer has joined the squad for this very reason?
Fortress Cake Tin, or is it tupperware?
Well played Pumas
Fully deserved
Play like that again it could be 2-0
Play like that again and again and who knows?
The only consolations for the ABs were:
Darry was really good at lock
And the inevitable first loss is out of the way for Razor
Earlier than expected but let’s be honest we could’ve lost a game against England
Massive work in progress and test for Razor and the coaches
But defensive holes (Hansen)
Lack of physicality and presence at rhe breakdown (Ryan) and is it Ellison? He’s contact skills coach good grief!!
Stilted back play - I guess is that myth Holland and MacDonald??
When you have three backline selectors for 9/10, midfield and outside backs it’s no surprise
The players look free of instinct
Many are shadows of themselves in terms of improvisation and physicality
lol 😂 I’ll take a loss against Argentina over England any day
I think it’s safe to say that Wayne Barnes got it right 😂
First off, well done Pumas. Great game and physicality on show by Argentina and a fully deserved win
Now ABs on the other hand, WHAT WAS THAT?? Looks like a lost team. I commented against England that ABs lack the physicality right now. It’s been evident the last few years. Rugby is about dominating in your carry and defense. You have to earn the right to go wide. It comes down to the forwards, you gotta bloody dominate. Where’s the passion and aggression to will yourself for that extra meter, where’s the willingness to fight in the tackle? You can’t expect to play a fast game or go wide if you’re not gaining the hard yards and getting over the advantage line. And what’s with the damn lateral running, bloody hell.. everyone is running laterally and getting driven back.. run it straight for goodness sake to hold the defense.. again blackadder is not your 6, persevere with Finau or get frizell back. 12 needs to be a hard straight runner and jordies been average these past few games.. vaai is not physical enough Darry did ok but they need more grunt amd dominant carry’s from the locks. it says a lot when the smallest guy in the forwards (ardie) is the most dominant runner and all the other bigger lads as soon as they get touched they go down with the ball.. too many behind the back passes it’s getting predictable, at least show some different patterns to mask it up..
Need hoskins in loose trip. Void of any link between loosies and backline
The definition of an Echo Chamber.
JK: “To me, the critical thing is…”
JW: starts nodding his head.
Contemponi doing more with Argentina in less time than Razor with the ABs. Telling.
Pumas are a good side mate and can beat anyone on their day, loved their intent and they got the win despite some very tough penalties against them. ABs lacked composure and hard, straight running - we’ll be OK.
now now contepomi has been with argentina for a year already just not head coach
Razor has got to go… 🫢
Well done Los Pumas. I picked this test as the ultimate banana skin game.
Players like Ardie, D-Mac, Jordie, & Taylor need to take a long hard look at themselves. We were leaderless & clueless out there at times.
That was the difference imo.
Ardie is a very emotional guy and an emotional leader. Sometimes it looks like the performance against Ireland where he inspires everyone around him to find an extra 10%, other times it looks like the absolute chaos we saw on the field today.
Ardie played well but agree led poorly!! It really showed in the last quarter
Dmc was quite good I thought but the whole team look confused as if they are trying to play to a complex plan rather than instinct
Ardie and DMck shocking passes back that led to a try
That’s four games in a row now
Both flankers were outplayed but Blackadder was very costly and lucky to stay on the field
Both wingers had moments but also seem to be down on confidence? Reece I am a fan of but that massive tap back argh!!
Jordan will come in but needs to start in the wing as we STILL need Beaudens composure
ALB had good and bad moments but Jordie is becoming quite ineffective IMO
TJ just no …two charge downs - he just doesn’t learn
Thought Ardie played well and was the only guy keeping us in it with those late turnovers but agree on the leadership piece…we fell to bits in the final 15mins
Pumas looked good - well done - alway hard to win in NZ no matter what
Razor looking close to tears in this interview with JK and JW. I feel for him. It’s gonna be a tough year Razor. Hope the NZ public don’t turn on you.
He’s already being turned on
Yes he will get time but the manner of the performance was galling
He and his swag of coaches have clearly cluttered the ABs badly so far
Maybe it will take time but the biggest alarm bell for me was the lack of response in the last quarter
Argentina beat the all blacks who beat England who beat Ireland who beat South Africa who won the World Cup so basically, Argentina numero uno VAMOS VAMOS
No argument
Makes me feel a lot better now!
Agreed. You can’t argue that. Argentina are the best team in the world!