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Argentina’s bright start to The Rugby Championship is now firmly in the rearview mirror as they let slip a late lead to fall to the Wallabies 20 – 19 in La Plata.
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Despite being in control for the bulk of the contest, Felipe Contepomi’s side could never quite shake their visitors. Instead, they lost control of proceedings as they once again struggled to implement their game plan in adverse weather conditions.
Here is how Los Pumas fared in their second loss of The Rugby Championship.
1. Thomas Gallo – 7
Struggled early in his scrummaging head-to-head with the Tongan Thor, Gallo couldn’t quite get his bid set on the Wallabies tighthead. To his credit, he rectified this issue quickly and gained parity to ensure a clean ball on his team’s feed.
Around the park, the loosehead was exceptionally busy with 16 tackles, 5 carries and 23 meters made during his 70-minute shift.
2. Julian Montoya – 6.5
Rarely has a player fit the mould of their teams quite as well as Montoya, who epitomised both the old school no frills forward nature of the Leicester Tigers and the workhorse role of a Los Pumas hooker.
Pushing on for 72 minutes, the skipper ended his evening with 11 tackles, 4 carries and an 83% success rate at the line-out.
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3. Joel Sclavi – 5
Utilising his incredible strength, the La Rochelle European Cup winner put in a solid shift for 44 minutes on both sides of the ball with four carries and thirteen tackles.
One moment he would like to have back was when he drifted away from his role as the first pillar around the ruck to leave a gaping hole in Los Pumas’ defence, which Tom Wright duly exposed to set up Jake Gordon for the Wallaby’s opening score.
This moment aside, he departed, having won 100% of his own scrums and, as touched upon above, did his fair share of work around the park.
4. Franco Molina – 4
Doing the hard yards, Molina was ever present around the breakdown but once again brought very little in terms of dynamism in the carry which his team desperately needed.
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5. Pedro Rubiolo – N/A
Departed inside the opening minute with an injury.
6. Pablo Matera – 7.5
Hustled hard from the off, the test centurion was at the heart of everything positive that Los Pumas achieved this evening. Combined with Marcos Kremer to blow up the Wallabies ruck, albeit he got on the wrong end of the officials in this department at times.
7. Marcos Kremer – 7.5
Monstrous in defence with a whopping 23 tackles, Kremer sent several Wallabies packing when they had the misfortune of coming down his channel. Claiming his team’s lone turnover, Kremer singlehandily threatened several Wallaby breakdowns.
8. Juan Martin Gonzalez – 7
Directing a well-set maul with surgical precision for the opening try of the contest, the Saracens backrow continues to develop into a top-class test operator.
Utilising his versatile skillset once again, Gonzalez linked play superbly between forwards and backs whilst serving as Los Pumas ‘ line-out winner. Similar to Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony, who had the ability to get off the ground quickly, the rangy number eight posed a constant threat to the Wallabies during line-out time.
9. Gonzalo Bertranou – 7
Whipping the ball out of the ruck at breakneck speed, Bertranou completed a whopping 51 passes throughout his time on the pitch.
This quick service played to the strengths of his backline, which was fizzing with energy every time the ball got to them. Bertranou played the conditions well by complementing this slick passing game with an accurate long-kicking game.
10. Santiago Carreras – 7.5
Fast developing into a points machine, Carreras has taken the role of undisputed chief playmaker in his stride.
Carreras showed his full array of skills by stepping up time and again in challenging conditions to slot shots at goal and posing a genuine threat with the ball in hand.
11. Mateo Carreras – 5
He recovered from his nightmare in Auckland and found his Wellington form as a highly effective meter munching carrier in the first half with 47 meters.
In the second half, his attacking play mirrored the weather as it deteriorated to the point that he didn’t have any notable carries.
12. Santiago Chocobares – 6.5
Bringing a direct approach to the free roaming Argentine backline, Chocobares led the way in terms of both tackles and carries for Los Pumas back division.
13. Lucio Cinti – 4
Anonymous in attack, Cinti struggled to get his hands on the ball but was strong defensively against a Wallaby attack that grew in confidence throughout the contest. Utilising his pace to close the gap between himself and his outside backs, the Saracens centre was solid in defence.
14. Santiago Cordero – 4
Plucked from the action on the hour mark, the winger got through plenty of work without ever posing a major threat. In defence, his missed tackles put his team under pressure and likely played a role in him being the back that was removed from the action.
15. Juan Cruz Mallia – 8
Reading Australia’s kicking game like a Hunter S Thompson novel, Mallia never looked flustered as the Wallabies launched bomb after bomb in the wet weather. Mopping up kicks before returning the favour with interest both with the boot and in the carry, the Toulouse star looked dangerous every time he got his hands on the ball.
During the second half, his opportunities to counter-attack became few and far between as the Wallabies opted to keep the ball in and when they did kick, it was with contestable mid-range efforts.
Replacements
16. Agustin Creevy – 4
Argentina’s all time caps leader came on with just under ten minutes to go and was busy as ever in what was a tight and challenging contest but could not wrestle back control for his team.
17. Mayco Vivas – 4
Came on for the final ten minutes at which point the tide had slowly begun to shift into Australia’s favour and he didn’t have any impact on stopping this shift in momentum.
18. Eduardo Bello – 4
Took over from Sclavi early in the second half and was, by and large, solid despite losing a couple of scrums.
19. Guido Petti – 4
He didn’t make the impact that he had done previously in better conditions; the Bordeaux utility forward got through his work without any flash moments.
20. Tomas Lavanini – 6
Playing for 79 minutes following Rubiolo’s early exit, the confrontational lock took the fight to the Wallabies. His ability at the maul remains top-class as he worked through the Wallabies pack to nullify most of their attacking attempts in this department.
21. Santiago Grondona – 4
On and off, backwards and forwards, the backrow played a hybrid role as Argentina’s 6 -2 bench split came back to bite them with a spate of injuries across the backline. Ultimately, his influence was negligible, which could, in part, be down to his role-shifting.
22. Lautaro Bazan Velez – 4
Taking over when the weather was at its worst certainly didn’t help, but the scrumhalf looked to be a tick off the pace, which ultimately played a role in stifling Los Pumas’ attack in the final twenty minutes.
23. Tomas Albornoz – 6.5
A highly effective running game from the versatile back who ripped off 108 meters from six carries as well as adding a penalty. Taking over the chief playmaking duties for the final seven minutes when Carreras departed, his kicking became somewhat wayward, offering up a few crucial opportunities to the Wallabies.
