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Liam Messam: All Blacks 'took away the heart of the Pumas' with raw power
By Ned Lester
Former All Blacks enforcer Liam Messam has commended his countrymen for not just overpowering Argentina in round one of the Rugby Championship, but also for stifling a comeback by maintaining their forward pack dominance.
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Having moved from the field to the offices of Chiefs headquarters after a 184-cap career with the Super Rugby heavyweights, Messam now acts as Athlete Development Coach in addition to some media work.
He was in Cordoba for the weekend’s contest and was instantly struck by the size of the Pumas pack as they ran out onto the field. The local match coverage had the Pumas pack weighing in at 940 kg, 47 more than their All Blacks counterparts.
But that deficit was only relevant on paper, with New Zealand’s scrum and work in the contact area setting a powerful foundation in the match, and ultimately facilitating the 41-24 win.
“What I saw from the boys – it was a very physical, big Argentinian team – and what I loved about our boys is they just bit down on the mouthguard and got stuck into them,” Messam told The Aftermatch with Kirst & Beav from the Córdoba airport.
“It took away the heart of the Pumas, which is obviously their set piece. Our scrum dominated, I thought we dominated in the collision; Ardie (Savea) was a beast for us, and he’s such a motivational player for the boys, an inspiration.
“So they just got a roll on with that. And to be fair, the Argies did really well to come back in that second half, the crowd finally woke up and got in behind them, and we thought it was going to be a bit closer in the end. But Argie rolled the dice about competing in the lineout and got stung a couple of times with a couple of tries for Samisoni (Taukei’aho).
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“But overall, physically, that’s one thing I was really pleased about. The boys fronted physically.”
When awarding his vote for Man of the Match honours, Messam looked no further than a fellow loose forward.
“For me, it was Ardie. Just an absolute physical beast out there, with and without the ball.”
Savea chewed through twice as many carries as any other Kiwi forward in the game, and made as many tackles as any All Black not named Jordie Barrett.
The 2023 World Rugby Player of the Year has been mostly relieved of his lineout duties by Tupou Vaa’i’s shift from the second row to the blindside flank, but benefited from the change with a rolling maul try in the first half.
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Two more rolling maul tries in the space of five minutes late in the contest sealed the Kiwi win after Argentina cut a 21-point halftime deficit to seven.
“The Argies competed every time in the 22, so I’m not sure who calls the lineouts, whether it’s Scooter (Scott Barrett) or not, but whoever it is has done a fantastic job in punishing the Argies for going up and rolling the dice, and that really let us get away with the win at the end.”