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Los Pumas new mantra of imperfection driving recent success
“Recuerden este día muchachos. Va a ser de ustedes toda la vida.”
“Remember this day guys. It will be yours for the rest of your lives.”
The handwritten message on a board in the changing room at the Orangetheory Stadium was a clear message for a Puma side facing their date with destiny.
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One hundred and ninety-five tackles later, Argentina had beaten New Zealand for the first time in New Zealand.
Pushing the All Blacks to an even deeper hole than the one they were a couple of weeks ago was a by-product of a performance that filled a country – oval heads and general sports fans – with pride and joy.
Argentina is going through one of its many crises – economic and political. I won’t bore you with the deep details; hurtful as the current situation is, whatever good news can take the mind of the beaten up ‘argentinos’ will certainly help.
The fact that the win was a reflection of the hard work and effort put into the performance should be a mirror on which to reflect ourselves.
“Getting that mentality right was important. When you get a first win like this it consolidates the work done,” said Michael Cheika, whose Spanish is getting better as the team grows, a sign of his effort to fit.
“When the game gets difficult and things go against us, we must be strong and enjoy the game. They have the character to do it,” he added.
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It wasn’t the perfect game; perfect games are impossible and that is part of the mentality the team has achieved under the new regime. They continuously repeat this almost as a mantra.
It is in this imperfection the team can operate, find its feet, get comfortable and work their game plan the key to their success.
The All Blacks knew what to expect from Argentina. For years, everybody has acknowledged they are a sticky team that is uncomfortable to play against.
They have every player ready to put their body on the line like there is no tomorrow, eight of them were in double figure tackle counts, but they have now added a patience that was not there in the past – as recent as a couple of games ago – you know whoever stands in front is going to be find it hard.
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So it was.
Take lock Tomás Lavannini, sent off the most times (three) in test rugby.
He was his usual monster self; with maturity, or as part of the work done by Cheika and his able staff, he managed to be in the thick of things, ‘only’ managing 17 tackles, without the need to overstep those boundaries he so often trod on.
No yellow cards is already a good game, only giving away a penalty is a massive change in approach.
Standing in a lineout next to the massive Marcos Kremer has to be intimidating. His bushman beard, huge shoulders and the knowledge that he is fearful and hard, has a huge bearing on the opponents.
That he can make 26 tackles – it felt like many more – all of them hurting the opposition both physically and mentally, you have to stand and applaud.
Argentina is far from the finished product, players and staff acknowledge this and understand that as a message it is the correct one.
When asked in the post-game press conference about what had changed psychologically within the team, Cheika, in his need to fit, he attempted an answer in Spanish which didn’t make much sense.
It is a question that still needs an answer, which will explain the process that took to this historic win.
Knowing how street-smart the Aussie coach is, maybe they are downplaying that factor.
Whatever the case is, this is a changed team. You don’t get to beat the All Blacks, at home, as down as they might be if you don’t get the mindset right. They lost but they certainly were not as bad a side as some harsh critics make them to be.
It might not be through a head guru, a sports psychologist, or someone of that kind of CV, but the whole team mentally is changing.
Had it not been for an implosion in the first test against the Wallabies in the second half when the team lost its bearings, by giving away penalties by the dozen, it could have been a different story.
They were much stronger in the second test win and now they achieved Cheika’s first test win in New Zealand, a date already stamped in Argentina’s proud history.
Pride was a common thread to this storyline. All those interviewed post-game were quick to point out how proud they were on the work done and thankful of their clubs of origin. Such a common message is part of work behind the scenes to get them on the same page.
Knowing where you come from helps on the road to where you are going.
“When things get difficult and go against us, we must be strong and enjoy the game. The players have the character to do it,” said Cheika.
To which his captain Julián Montoya added: “We go on to the field, but we are many more than 23 players. This is for a lot of people, and we must enjoy the win and continue in this process of growth.”
When Montoya said that his team was so confident that they were “ready to play two more hours” it speaks volumes for the confidence they’ve achieved. The character that was developed.
In a few days, Hamilton awaits for the rematch. Impossible to imagine what that can bring.
The key to beating NZ is to build scoreboard pressure. Once you have that the weight of a nation sets in. Great documentary btw
I would like to suggest that your current "woes" are a product of our vulnerabilities which are being exploited by the wider rugby world. Our geographic isolation, our need for competitive matches, and dependence on externally generated funding, to try and maintain our game. With other countries seeking stronger regular competition beyond our shores we are more dependent on our internal game and now struggle to develope enough players to the level required. (Just note the huge disparity between our provincial teams). Soon we will not have a competition that fills the gap between provincial and test rugby. This will put further pressure on us. Its sad to say but world rugby has weakened us with a strategic approach that isolates us and a collection of rules that have hybridized the game that no longer fits with our natural game. There is no question of our passion and commitment to the game as a whole. We will still be competitive but will it be to the extent that we were used to or desire to be? Its now a power game with less space to play it in!! How do we adapt? Can the NZRFU conceive a longer term strategic approach for NZ rugby? What influence can it have in making change that will improve the rugby product? There is a lot to do in this space if we want a more global game that non rugby people can be attracted to? Those are my thoughts both as an observation and suggestions. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
You might not have meant it that way, but what you’ve written comes across as very parochial and entitled. Paraphrasing, what you’ve written gets dangerously close to “The way the game is changing doesn’t suit NZ’s birthright of dominance and it’s someone else’s fault.”
Rugby has to evolve as a game and to do so it needs to develop the game in more countries and give them the opportunity to play against high class opposition. The All Blacks have long asked for and received special treatment, from holding up the move to a global schedule to demanding payment to play in the Northern Hemisphere. I recognise that it’s partly of necessity to protect the NZ game - but other countries have their own struggles, and it’s a good thing that World Rugby is making progress in levelling the playing field.
Rugby as a whole has suffered badly from the COVID crisis. The ARU has had a near death experience as I understand it, and three English clubs are in talks with HMRC that could drive them into administration. My kids’ community club - which was one of the best run in the area - has been driven into a merger with another local club, partly because the ground they play on has been sold out from under them and turned into tennis courts and football pitches.
It’s tough all round, but the game can only survive if we encourage more engagement and competition.
This is the most open Rugby Championship I can remember (and many of the games so far have been excellent), and RWC 23 also looks likely to be very open. This can only be a good thing for the game.
As for NZ’s current difficulties, my view is that it’s less to do with the provincial game than with replacing a generation of players many of whom have a legitimate claim to be the best ever in their respective positions. Those guys had first claim on the shirt - as a unit - for so long that few of their successors had a chance to complete their apprenticeships in international rugby alongside them and learn from their experience. It shows when the pressure is on: instead of the smooth ability of the 2011-15 side to shift game plans and keep playing their patterns until something in the opposition had to give, the current crop of players run out of ideas much earlier in the process, and then errors and petulance creep in. That may improve with experience and the addition of Joe Schmidt to the team, but it’s probably the most difficult skill in rugby to learn (and Schmidt’s Ireland team displayed similar fragility once Eddie Jones worked out how to counter their primary game plan).