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Tomás Albornoz magic sees Argentina run rampant against Italy

Tomas Albornoz of Argentina celebrates after scoring a try. Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images

It has been debated for a handful of years if Santiago Carreras was the right choice when wearing the number 10 jersey. In a country that had the likes of Hugo Porta, Gonzalo Quesada, Felipe Contepomi in the position and tenants of a number 10 jersey of a different sport such as a certain Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, who wears that coveted number is quite important.

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Santiago Carreras has been a great servant of Argentine rugby and is much loved in Northampton where much of his professional rugby has been played. In saying this, he has played more at fullback than flyhalf at club level. And, it must be stressed, he is a player that has a lot of Test rugby in him. Maybe not at flyhalf, but certainly is an asset in a squad of 23.

When Michael Cheika joined Los Pumas as an advisor, he was convinced, and convinced coach Mario Ledesma, that Carreras was the one to marshal the troops from 10. When he became coach, the Australian was such a fan of Carreras that others were not offered real chances.

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Tomás Albornoz had only broken into the Jaguares’ squad when COVID arrived and his opportunities soon dried. He was given a few cameo opportunities but never sufficient time to showcase his value.

Until this year. 

Felipe Contepomi was named Pumas’ head coach and even if he fully understood what was needed in the pivotal position, Carreras was first choice until Albornoz was given a real opportunity, which he took it with both hands.

He played the second half in that win in Wellington against the All Blacks and then started against Australia in Santa Fe. Los Pumas won 67-27.

His ability to launch an eager set of backs was as noticeable that day as it was in Udine where Los Pumas beat Italy 50-18 to open their November tour.

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He scored the third Argentine try, and was involved in all that was good about Los Pumas’ attack and even showed what he can offer, moving forward, in defense.

Notes from his first-half performance read:

3rd minute – Albornoz penalty

5th, 26th and 38th minute – Albornoz turnovers under deep positional pressure

6th minute – Albornoz launches a deep attack

10th minute – Albornoz goal from a Mallía try

28th minute – Isgró captures a precise high kick from Albornoz, leading to Argentina’s second try

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There was a lot more of that in a second half that included his try, born from a well-placed kick and the pressure of his teammates before the ball squirted for him to run some 30 metres to score under the posts.

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The solid win for Los Pumas was, of course, much more than an Albornoz one-man show.

The forward pack dominated throughout, with the scrum proving to be a solid platform to attack from, giving forward momentum for the backs to run. The lineout, which brought an easy 73rd-minute try for veteran lock Matías Alemnanno – had the regularity that a top side is after. 

Lock Pedro Rubiolo tackled as a flanker, the flankers played as a back and the backs scored five of the seven tries – with winger Santiago Cordero getting a brace.

Whilst he was on the field, scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou, who is as tidy as he is prudent, gave good, quick, service to ensure that when Albornoz launched attacks that hurt an Italian side that paid a high price for their defensive naivety, unable to stop the momentum generated by Los Pumas.

This loss was the biggest since Gonzalo Quesada took over at the start of the year.

There were a lot of positives to carry on going into a much harder proposition in six days when they play Ireland at the Aviva on Friday.

Defence

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Tackles Made
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38
Tackles Missed
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79%
Tackle Completion %
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The Irish will be hurting as hell after their loss against the All Blacks and know that their visitors have a lot of their own IP. Felipe Contepomi is a much-loved son of Leinster where he starred in a golden era and later was assistant coach.

He knows what the Irish are about and some of the trends the men in green do is similar to what Argentina aims to do. 

“Ireland is another type of team and it will be a different challenge; we know what we have to do,” said coach Contepomi from the sideline.

“We have a shorter week, we have to travel, so planning is crucial to be in the best possible shape to impose our game plan and to try to have the most favourable result”

The stakes are much higher as is the pressure under which Albornoz, if he starts again, will be under. Carreras, nursing a calf injury, will be available as will Pablo Matera having completed a two-match ban.

Captain Julián Montoya was happy. “It was an incredible game but there are always things that can be corrected,” he said. “We did what we said we wanted to do and we played with the intensity that we had planned.”

“We must enjoy the win; we worked hard to achieve it and we deserved it. It is a short week and we must soon refocus.”

Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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Comments

2 Comments
T
TI 11 days ago

Albornoz pretty much put his name on that Pumas' 10 jersey. What a performance.

Argentina with a shaken-up roster, but still pulverized Italy. They play an intelligent game, too: kicked double the metres than Italy did. They're not just running the ball.

R
Rodrigo N 11 days ago

Juani Hernandez also at 10 for Los Pumas... such a great player.

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JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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