Argentina player ratings vs England | Rugby World Cup 2023
An ill-disciplined and error-riddled Argentina started their World Cup campaign disastrously in Marseille, losing to an England side that had their full complement players for only the opening few minutes of the match.
The Pumas went into the match probably as favourites following England’s poor August, and their chances increased significantly when Tom Curry was red carded in the opening minutes of the match. However, a high penalty count and a blunt attack meant they not only lost to England, but lost convincingly given the circumstances, as George Ford kicked all 27 points in a 27-10 win.
It was not a good day for Michael Cheika’s men, with few being able to hold their head high.
Here’s how the Argentina players rated:
15. Juan Cruz Mallia – 5
Went off early following Tom Curry’s yellow card tackle before coming back on, and had a varied performance under the high ball. Was not a game for outside backs really, which was expected.
14. Emiliano Boffelli – 6
Opened the scoring with a long range penalty, but his howitzer of a right boot was off target a few minutes later. Handled the aerial onslaught from England well, and looked the most comfortable of the Argentine back three handling bomb after bomb.
13. Lucio Cinti – 5
Failed to take a deft chip kick-off from Santiago Carreras in the first-half, although it was not the easiest of takes. Covered a sniping run from Alex Mitchell which could have put Jonny May in for a try. A quiet display, which after a pretty shambolic loss, means he comes out in credit compared to some of his teammates.
12. Santiago Chocobares – 6
Perfectly weighted 50:22 gave Argentina their best attacking platform of the first-half with a five metre lineout. Showed plenty of grit and physicality up against a Manu Tuilagi who was on song. A basic knock-on foiled a great attacking platform for his side in the second-half, but withheld some brutal hits from his opposite man.
11. Mateo Carreras – 4
Loose kick on the full when Argentina had space in the England back field which led to England drop-goal in what was a fairly uneventful first-half for him. Found himself put under pressure aerially, but did look lively on the few occasions he got ball in hand.
10. Santiago Carreras – 4
Yellow carded early on for a needless late tackle on opposite man Ford, although it did not prove too costly as the Pumas only conceded three points. Attempted a long-range drop goal of his own to rival Ford, but was well wide, which sums up how he was outplayed by his counterpart.
9. Gonzalo Bertranou – 4
Failed to put England’s back three under pressure with his kicking game and was outplayed by Mitchell in what was a game that needed to be controlled by halfbacks.
1. Thomas Gallo – 5
A mixed bag from Gallo. Came close to scoring the first try of the match, but fell short before gifting England a needless penalty when Argentina would have wanted to be camped in their half. Little did he know that he would come closest to scoring for his side that half. Carried hard through the heart of England’s defence nevertheless, but had the ball ripped from his hands on occasion, which no prop wants to experience. Gave away the first scrum penalty of the match as England’s scrum began to gain ascendency. Returned to the field with renewed energy.
2. Julian Montoya (c) – 5
Was caught holding on when his side were hammering England’s line, but equally got through a heap of tackles. Lineout was almost perfect but faltered in the second-half as he ultimately embodied his side’s implosion, unfortunately leading the charge as the Pumas completely lost their discipline.
3. Francisco Gomez Kodela – 4
Did not have the bluster of his front-row teammates, but equally was not as error-prone.
4. Matias Alemanno – 4
Knock on in his own half gave England a great attacking chance which they failed to capitalise on, but a quiet performance ended at half-time when he was replaced.
5. Tomas Lavanini – 5
Caught holding on when Argentina had a good attacking position in the first-half, but was generally solid, albeit not a typically dominant performance. Left the field before the game really started to unravel for the Pumas.
6. Pablo Matera – 6
Some standout moments for the former captain- both good and bad. Won a crucial turnover in the first-half when England were building some fluidity in their attack, but equally took Freddie Steward out in the air which set England up for their third drop-goal of the match. Argentina’s strongest carrier in the pack comfortably, and was held up over the line when the game was already lost. Offside penalty gave England their first points of the second-half, as the penalties started to mount up.
7. Marcos Kremer – 6
Strong defensive display across the 80 in what was quite a turgid affair up front at times, and tried his best carrying but to little avail. Did not have a blemish on his disciplinary copybook, which was quite a feat in that match.
8. Juan Martin Gonzalez – 4
Struggled to assert himself in a very quiet first-half with ball in hand, only making one metre, but was industrious in defence. Was hooked with 20 minutes to go after conceding a penalty but can hardly be blamed as that was a quite a common occurrence.
Replacements:
16. Agustin Creevy – 5
Entered the fray once the rot had already set in, and like the rest of the bench failed to make any impact.
17. Joel Sclavi – 2
Conceded a penalty within moments of coming on and then went off injured.
18. Eduardo Bello – 5
Helped settle the Pumas’ scrum, but England had the upper hand up front by the time he joined the action for the final 30.
19. Guido Petti Pagadizabal – 5
Made an immediate impact with a break after taking the kick-off for the second-half, but was quiet thereafter.
20. Pedro Rubiolo – 4
Unfair to judge some of the of the substitutes’ performances as it must have felt like a hiding to nothing for some of them.
21. Rodrigo Bruni – 6
Scored Argentina’s only try of the match, although a consolation, which was a positive.
22. Lautaro Bazan Velez – 4
Very little action when he came on.
23. Matias Moroni – 4
Covered for Mallia early on, but equally did not see a lot of action.
Comments on RugbyPass
Interesting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to comments