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Sevens

Argentina dominate Australia to win men's Cape Town SVNS

Argentina's Gaston Revol (R) celebrate after Argentina won the men's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 final match between Australia and Argentina at the Cape Town stadium in Cape Town on December 10, 2023. (Photo by Rodger Bosch / AFP) (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)

Argentina bounced back from losing in the final in Dubai last week to win the Cape Town SVNS, destroying Australia in the final.

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It was utter domination by Argentina from the word go, but Australia were not helped by captain Nick Malouf being yellow carded for a high tackle early on.

Even with an extra player, Australia were still looking dangerous, but a fumbled ball allowed German Schulz to pluck it out the air and sprint in for the opener. Australia failed to regather the kick-off straight after, as Santiago Mare snapped up the ball to run in for Argentina’s second as they started to build a lead. Marcos Moneta scored their third with Joaquin Pellandini adding the extras again to give them a 21-0 lead. Some world class offloading from Luciano Gonzalez on the left wing put Matias Osadczuk in for Argentina’s fourth, as they stopped at half-time with a 28-0 lead.

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WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White takes aim at unruly fans at some Loftus Versfeld

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WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White takes aim at unruly fans at some Loftus Versfeld

Tries from Nathan Lawson and Dietrich Roache gave Australia a glimmer of hope, but Argentina went up another gear in the latter stages of the second-half, scoring three more tries through Osadczuk again, Tomas Elizalde and Santiago Alvarez. Argentina finished with a huge 45-12 win, which was richly deserved.

“It’s really good. As I told you after the semi-finals, we are trying to demonstrate that last season and Dubai wasn’t a coincidence,” Marcos Moneta told reporters.

“Playing another final again has been great and now to win it is better so we’re really happy for the team and also for Santiago Mare, he’s a new guy that joined… never won a gold medal on the circuit.”

Argentina now go top of the SVNS standings.

Tickets are on sale now for the next SVNS Series event in Perth on January 26.

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Comments on RugbyPass

c
cw 47 minutes ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

Toko wont it depend on who is coaching and what they might bring to the team. I agree with your analysis based on a conituation of present form. But Joseph and Rennie may be able to unlock the attack, coherency and intensity missing under Razor. Remember also we only just lost the two tests in SA last time we travelled there. Also we will hopefully have all of our top players available (eg Lomax, Ofa, Aumua, Tuipolutu, Vaa’i) and will have a month / six weeks to build culture and systems - something both Joseph and Rennie are masters at. The first test could in fact be the loss and last two the games where the new system fires. A big worry is that Rennie and Joseph try too hard to rebrand too quickly and the team burns out. Conversely, they might be able to bring the confidence and the intensity in the last two tests having spent July and early August building faith. I am reserving judgment to see how they go in the Nations cup.

56 Go to comments
B
B 49 minutes ago
Wave of mid-tier players heading abroad is hurting the All Blacks

My comment is to point out that Dalton and Sotutu were AB's…

Aki, Gibson-Park, Lowe played Super Rugby and were never considered potential AB's but eventually ended up playing international rugby for Ireland…



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20 Go to comments
c
cw 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

Tough to answer your question without knowing who will coach and whether he will look to build on Razor’s structures and if so how much. If he goes full all of field ballistic - which would not surprise me for either Rennie or Joseph - then we might win the first test. But it is just not sustainable over a month as the Lions know from their various tours over the years. I also think we woūd struggle for the balance of the tour as SA simply overpowers the set piece and defensive line. However, if the ABs can build on Razor’s structured power game by adding more intensity to the defence, together with more effective multiphase and counter attack (huge but odd weaknesses for ABs last year) that would be much more sustainable and a more winnable game plan over all three tests. It will need all the top forwards to stay injury free but if so, 2-1 to ABs not unrealistic.

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T
The Flying Dutchman 1 hour ago
No change to laws as rugby stakerholders focus turns to fan experience

I’m a NZer. Thank you for saving the scrums!

On behalf of the actual rugby public I would like to apologise to the wider rugby world for our unions behaviour over the last decade. The adults are back in charge. Hopefully we will have some sanity soon.



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22 Go to comments
c
cw 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

JW I was reflecting on the ABs preparation for the socalled greatest rivlary 🤣

56 Go to comments
c
cw 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

SF when you say rotation what do you mean. Rassie basically rotated through the same forwards for the big games against AB, Ireland and France?

56 Go to comments
c
cw 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

PB have you analysed how many of these players actually played a top five test last year? By my reckoning 80%+ of the forwards in those tests were the same players. I have not looked closely but the number will likely be similar for the backs. So you might have player depth, but they are not playing in the big games. Indeed many if them are unknown on the international scene. So this incredible depth might be better described as unproven.

56 Go to comments
c
cw 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

Agree and whoever wins the series in SA will be the real winner.

56 Go to comments
c
cw 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

Ok 3rd or 4th? What happened to being humble. This put down is not needed or justified. ABs on every objective metric deserve their No2 ranking. The 6N has shown just how overhyped the talk is about how much better the NH teams are than the ABs. Englands beats us once and they are No2. France beats a poor Ireland and they are now No.2. Its just rubbish. France dont deserve that ranking until they earn it on the road. Yeah Boks No 1 deservedly. But give the ABs the respect they deserve.

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I
Ian 2 hours ago
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A superb player! I love to see him in broken play

Let's make sure we keep the variation body size and shape



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2 Go to comments
c
cw 2 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

Disagree with parts of this John. The ABs are grossly underrated at the moment based largely on the England perferformance. But 6N has shown that impressions of teams from one or two losses or wins means little. It is performance against top teams over a sustained period that counts. The idea that England were clearly No2 in the world after beating the All Blacks once was overhype as the two losses against Scotland and Ireland show. Conversely to say they (England) are rubbish now is equally dumb. In reality the ABs are deservedly No2. They have beaten all the top five teams from Nov 24-Nov 25 and have the second best win rate of all top teams against other top teams. Notably when they last toured SA they lost two close games. And the idea also that ABs don’t have the rugby player resource to tour SA successfully is just wrong. Several key forwards did not participate in the Autumn series representing hundreds of test caps - Ofa, Lomax, Aumua, Tuipolutu, Vaa’i, Blackadder, Jacobson, Papali’i etc. Multiple emergent and seasoned forwards will provide staunch dirt tracker opposition - Dyer, Norris, Bell, Renata, Numia, Lauaki, Shalfoon, Hannah, Ah Koi, Mafeleo, Iose, Howden, Fusitua, Beehre, Boshier…. The tour will also be in August, mid international season and the ABs will be peaking. The tour will actually provide the coach with the time to build culture and synergies. The underdog status will drive them too. Would not write off ABs so easily.

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J
John Breslin 2 hours ago
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Brilliant! I've been a huge fan of Ramos from day one. Pure class. He has that nice swagger you get with players who don't think they're good, they know they're good.

For me, Jalibert is the big, big difference at the moment and I feel it reflects the squad development and potential. He looked firmly behind in the pecking order a few seasons back. He has taken every chance, never once turned his nose up at the ‘development’ tours and knuckled down. Constant improvement and i’m sure is due to Galthié’s influence and talents also.



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JW 2 hours ago
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Of course, he would accept anything if he thinks is beneficial them winning, no matter what origin nation it comes from, no matter any prejudice on their role and what they do.

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JW 2 hours ago
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Haha you sound like someone trying to say Dmac is the best 10 in the world! Not a huge gap.. there is a huge gap between me and Russell, I can confirm that for you, but there’s possibly still a huge gap between Smith and Russell too!

Fin Smith is far better than you give his credit for.



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GM 3 hours ago
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John Breslin 3 hours ago
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I did not ever know that NPC pays to play!

Everyday is a school day



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JW 3 hours ago
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I might have only just made this point in my other reply just then, but I point out the difference in perspectives.

Paul is the type of human that will definitely make it look favorable for him, so yes, when you see him with a timeline, you can think “right something took place in re to x”, but you would not believe what he said it was (as in he basically made it sound like Razor rocked up and handed in his resignation, where I have heard the exact opposite, that he was fighting desperately to right things and stay on).



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JW 3 hours ago
Justin Marshall reveals what Razor told him about ‘bizarre’ sacking



Marshall said that robertson told him he found out at the same time the story was unfolding, what does that even mean?

That people knew about it as it unfolded, increasingly over the course of days (i followed it from Monday).



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JW 3 hours ago
Frans Malherbe back on Springboks radar as first alignment squad is named

Was there anything going on with the whereabouts of that young winger (don’t want to putcher his name)? He was thought to be in England camp right.

Wonder if the big name players of say England would accept the same idea as this of a ‘catergorized’ squad, where say the England A team was allowed to integrate overseas players like Willis into it. Were like a lot of these guys know they aren’t going to be in the ‘real’ SA squad? Would need to be an actual plan around why you would want to select the French based players of course, but their inclusion would be great for a team like England A which had a funny look last year.



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PS 4 hours ago
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Hurricanes won’t be a good game to get a gauge on the Waratahs. Hurricanes have a 6 day turn-around from playing Fijian Drua in Lautoka in sauna conditions. They are down to their 4th choice 1st 5/8 (flyhalf). Not all 1st choice players e.g. Tyrell Lomax are available yet

1 Go to comments
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