Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Beauden Barrett at playmaking best in All Blacks' thumping of Pumas

Beauden Barrett. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

New Zealand have consolidated top spot in the Rugby Championship with a commanding 39-0 victory over Argentina on the Gold Coast.

ADVERTISEMENT

Caught off guard in a shock first-ever loss to the Pumas in the corresponding fixture last year, the All Blacks shut out the South Americans in a ruthless display this time around.

Despite making six changes to his starting side, Ian Foster’s men piled on five unanswered tries to notch their third straight bonus-point win, having crushed the Wallabies in their first two games of the tournament.

Video Spacer

The women’s game has made huge strides in the last decade.

Video Spacer

The women’s game has made huge strides in the last decade.

Rieko Ioane, Sevu Reece, Dalton Papalii and Luke Jacobson, who bagged a double, all crossed in the opening game of Sunday’s double-header at Cbus Super Stadium.

Brothers Beauden and Jordie Barrett added four conversions and two penalty goals between them to round out the drubbing.

“We can be incredibly proud of that performance,” said stand-out All Blacks captain Brodie Retallick after leading the team for the first time.

“To keep them at zero, defensively, we really had to break them down.

“We found a lot of space with the Wallabies the last few weeks but we had to wear the Pumas down with our set-piece and with our carries.

ADVERTISEMENT

“So we can be proud of that effort.”

The All Blacks camped themselves inside Pumas’ territory for much of the first half, but only had one try to show for their dominance of possession and territory until producing a 15-point blitz late in the section.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by RugbyPass (@rugbypass)

Argentina defended valiantly before the floodgates opened with Reece’s five-pointer in the 37th minute, followed by Papalii’s driving maul try four minutes after the halftime siren when the Pumas were down a man.

Pablo Matera was yellow-carded for a breakdown infringement and the All Blacks punished the Pumas in the flanker’s absence.

ADVERTISEMENT

With rugged centre David Havili and Ioane running amok, the All Blacks snuffed out any hopes of an Argentine second-half fightback with their fourth try seven minutes after the interval.

No 8 Jacobson was the beneficiary of Beauden Barrett’s scything run and brilliant flick pass as New Zealand’s lead blew out to 29-0.

Argentina were reduced to 14 men for a second time when veteran prop Carlos Muzzio was sin-binned after referee Nic Berry lost patience following a succession of penalties against the Pumas.

The All Blacks again made them pay, with Jacobson doing it all himself for his second try that completed the scoring.

With two big losses to South Africa as well, the Pumas remain empty-handed ahead of their return bout with New Zealand on Saturday in Brisbane.

Also seeking their first win of the tournament, Australia face the world champion Springboks in Sunday night’s second test.

– Darren Walton

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

LONG READ
LONG READ Rugby fans are about to find out what Robertson's All Blacks are made of Rugby fans are about to find out what Robertson's All Blacks are made of
Search