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Three tactics from Argentina that proved the difference against the All Blacks
By Ben Smith
Argentina registered their third ever win over the All Blacks in Wellington but this one was different in many ways to their last two victories.
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Under new head coach Felipe Contepomi Argentina stuck to a new plan and it paid off in the end.
They scored the most points ever in a Test match against New Zealand, bettering their benchmark of 25 points set in the first two wins.
Here are three key tactics that worked for Argentina in toppling the All Blacks in the opening round of the Rugby Championship.
The deep kick off and smother
Argentina nullified the All Blacks top weapon Mark Tele’a by kicking deep on restarts and smothering him directly after the catch.
They were able to pin the All Blacks’ winger 15 metres or so from the goal line multiple times, before pressuring the exit kick. TJ Perenara had two exit kicks charged down in the first half.
Los Pumas’ timing on the kick restarts was excellent, arriving right as Tele’a caught the ball and in numbers to pin the All Blacks in a deep position.
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In the first half, Tele’a offloaded one of them and a couple passes later the All Blacks conceded a penalty next to the sticks.
The deep kick and smother tactic worked perfectly for Argentina and they showed something the All Blacks didn’t have a solution for.
Aggressive intent from penalties
The two previous Argentinian wins were almost a carbon copy of each other: one opportunist try and buckets of penalty goals on the way to 25 points both times.
This time was more aggressive, they rolled the dice a lot more. The Pumas turned down shots at goal regularly to put the ball in the corner, and didn’t always come up with points.
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Santiago Carreras went to the lineout with the team down 10-0, and they were snuffed on first phase by Dalton Papali’i five metres out. But this intent to attack paid off.
After the All Blacks exited from there, they stripped Tyrel Lomax around halfway and immediately shifted wide, centre Chocobares breaking through and setting up Lucio Cinti for a counter-attacking try. It was the type of transition try the All Blacks usually score on their opposition.
Later in the first half they had one roll of the dice from the corner, failed, but earnt another penalty and took the three.
Early in the first half after Pablo Matera’s penalty, they went to the corner and mauled over with lock Franco Molina scoring the try.
It was only as the game entered the final 25 minutes that Argentina opted for three as the first option.
In the end they scored four tries and the aggressive intent to go for tries over the first 55 minutes paid off.
The loaded bench
The Argentinians went with a forward-heavy 6-2 bench and it worked. Of their two back reserves, they only used one. The battle of the benches proved pivotal in the final quarter.
The All Blacks set-piece faltered with their reserves on, particularly at the lineout with Asafo Aumua’s throwing an issue, while at scrum time Argentina got the upper hand.
They won a free kick on the first scrum after fresh front rows were introduced, and a penalty on the next, both times on the edge of the Argentinian 22, relieving pressure.
Although the game-changing play came from the duo of Ardie Savea, Damian McKenzie, when back-to-back errant passes lost 50 metres of territory and handed a five metre scrum to Argentina, the execution from the reserve forwards was less than desired in that final 10.
Hooker Augustin Creevy, coming off the Argentinian bench came up with multiple big plays with the go-ahead try and a key breakdown turnover on halfway with five minutes remaining. He then caught an errant throw from Aumua that went over the top uncontested that led to the final penalty.
Many of the All Blacks starters had left the field with the lead in tact at 30-28. The bench performances proved the difference.
That must really burn hey Ben 😂
All Blacks - No leadership. No ability to adapt or read the opposition's game plan and counter it.
Poor First Five. Poor decision making. How can 5 assistant coaches work?
When will they realise Savea isn't a captain?
Razor needs to Coach and be Razor. Not coach by committee, none of whom will ever be All Black Coach. It's like when you have a syndicate who owns a horse. Everyone thinks they own the horse individually.
Payout Mounga's Japanese contract. We need him now.
YES, YES, YES - 5 coaches who have no international experience, Savea is a great player but no captain - poor on field leadership again from Ardie
TOO MANY FECKING COACHES
I knew they would lose at half time when Ryan spoke to the media about how we this and we that, as if tye win was a foregone conclusion. No sort your s%=t out half time rev up. Just a little pep talk. These abs getting soft. Arrogance never beats passion.
AB's lost the game in the last 45 minutes conceding 30 points to the Pumas.
All the commotion from down under and new law trials to speed the game up has backfire if you ask me & played a big in the Pumas win.
They play a short quick game so anything to make it faster, & with less set piece plays to fatigue the forwards, will always be more to their benefit than any other test team, including the Super Rugby AB's & Wallabies.
If you watch the game again have a closer look at the Pumas ruck game. Forwards were not fatigue from scrumming so were hitting the rucks with a lot of Latin passion.
TBH, I love these new law trials, a serious case of unintended consequences coming back to bite you in the ass, so can only hope they are rolled out globally next season.
No scrums until 60mins is pretty rare. Can't really plan for that. No team intends to throw forward passes or knock on, but i guess that highlights how well both teams handled the ball. Things tend to even out over time. Difficult to guage the unintended consequences of law changes after one round.
How can producing two great displays this weekend be considered backfiring?
Counter attack rugby with a heavy forward pack and a forward heavy bench. Very much the 2019-2023 Springbok blueprint. Good to see it still works! We’ve evolved our game a bit since last year, but Argentina is using the blueprint to good effect. Well done to them. Their scrum has improved a lot with the younger players.