All Blacks mid-game World Cup experiment labelled 'damning'

A mid-game experiment by the All Blacks at the end of their one-sided Rugby World Cup semi-final win over Argentina has been described as a damning indictment of the lack of competitiveness of the fixture.

A lopsided draw which is set to be addressed for the next Rugby World Cup meant that Argentina found themselves unlikely semi-finalists and the 44-6 scoreline reflected the gulf in class between the two sides.

A week after successfully emerging from an thunderous quarter-final against Ireland, this resembled more of a training ground exercise for the All Blacks against opponents who were a shadow of the side that edged out Wales.

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Instead, this was the Argentina that laboured through Pool D in a poor advert for the weaker half of the draw and the World Cup in general as a muted atmosphere watched New Zealand plunder seven tries.

Worryingly for either South Africa or England, who meet in Saturday’s second semi-final, they will face a side who barely broke sweat and whose bench had been emptied with 14 minutes to go.

And it was following a yellow card for New Zealand second row Scott Barrett that the ease with which the All Blacks were cantering to victory was truly illustrated.

After Barrett’s 10 minutes in the sin bin had elapsed head coach Ian Foster and decided now bring the lock back on, preferring to see out the final six minutes with just 14 men. Despite being down a player, they managed to score again through Will Jordan.

Irish Independent rugby writer Rúaidhrí O’Connor posted on Twitter: “Scott Barrett can come back on after his yellow card, but New Zealand have chosen to play the last five minutes with 14 men In a World Cup semi-final. Speaks volums.”

The UK Telegraph’s Oliver Brown wrote: “As a strategic move, it was defensible, if deeply unorthodox. But as a statement on the one-sidedness of this supposed contest, it was damning”.

Foster was asked about whether he might have liked a harder runout ahead of a World Cup final against eithger England or South Africa, and he insisted that it didn’t make a difference.

“Argentina ended up being that game. We play them a lot. It wouldn’t have mattered who we played tonight because we were focused on who we played. It was Argentina. It was a very physical game. I was really happy with how we controlled it.”

additional reporting PA