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Los Pumas are making progress but consistency isn't in their vocabulary yet

By Frankie Deges
(Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

Will the real Pumas please stand up?

After eight games under coach Michael Cheika, it is very clear that Los Pumas are making progress, not only on the scoreboard: a last second series win against Scotland, home win against Australia, away win against the All Blacks.

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Chinks are still noticeable but certain aspects of the game are better.

Yet, it is still a team that is hard to gage in terms of what they will come up on the day. Consistency is a word they still struggle to spell.

This was certainly the case in their last home-game for the season, when losing by 16 points against an efficient, well-oiled Springbok side that is making sure that when Rugby World Cup 2023 comes, they will be more than prepared to defend their title and possibly emulate the All Blacks and win back-to-back titles.

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Exciting rugby: maybe not, but efficient certainly.

They only needed to stick to their game plan, surf the rough waves during a 20-minute period in which Argentina forgot their apathy of the opening half, and close a game that was, at one stage, open, with two tries.

Their ultimate goal is also France 2023.

Cheika continues to work on getting to know and understand the culture of team and country and how best to reach them with a message that will instill in them the need to play every game maintaining their own expected high standards.

They were not close to what the coach is expecting at the Independiente Stadium, a late replacement to Velez Sarsfield, their BA home ground.

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“The mental preparation of the team is going very well,” Cheika answered a question from RugbyPass after the 36-20 loss.

“This is a team that hasn’t got a culture or understanding of what success looks like. You have to be sure you bring it every day.”

If a culture of success is the ability to repeat success, he might have a point as Los Pumas has always struggled to win consecutive games consistently.

It has happened in two of the last four Rugby World Cups, winning six of seven games to place third in France 2007 and five of seven to finish fourth in England in 2015. But seldom before or after.

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In this year’s Rugby Championship, their record reads: lost, won, won, lost, lost.

It is a battle Cheika is fighting with his team.

“Every day we are bringing a better level and attitude to training and games.

To be consistent, and as we go towards the World Cup, it is an area that we are working on.”

In the post-match press conference he added:

“Maybe, maybe, in the past, taking South Africa close and getting 22-20 was good enough. But it is not good enough anymore. We need to get into a position and we need to go on and win.”

After forgetting to play the rugby they can play in the first 50 minutes, Argentina suddenly sprung to life. With fullback Willie Le Roux in the sin-bin, when replacement scrumhalf Tomás Cubelli was illegally stopped, a penalty try ensued.

Down to thirteen as replacement flanker Kwagga Smith was duly sinbined, and with the crowd support (“it was the loudest I’ve ever been in a game,” said Damian de Allande) behind them, Matías Moroni ran around the defenders to score a try that had to be triple-checked by James Doleman and his fellow Kiwi TMO Chris Hart.

With the Springboks winning by 16, this try did not become topical, but there was certainly a marginal forward pass by Marcos Kremer to the try scorer.

As soon as the Springboks were back to fifteen, it was the same earlier domination as two more tries were scored, the last by player of the match Malcolm Marx in a movement where the whole South African front-row handled the ball.

When questioned about some refereeing decisions or the way Doleman handled the breakdown – in all Argentina was penalized 19 times – Cheika refused to walk into that trap.

“My mother forced me to promise her that I would not speak about the referee and I can’t go against that,” he laughed.

Being a good son, he certainly did not go against Mrs Cheika’s wishes yet he did point out that there were areas that needed to get better for the last outing in Durban on Saturday.

“From being the team least penalized in the first two rounds, they became the team most penalized in the last two.”

His captain Montoya admitted that they had not been the team they can be.

“We must do what we have trained. Not doing that forces us into indiscipline,” he said about those penalties.

The turnaround between games is short. With no direct flight to South Africa, both teams shared a charter flight to ensure they arrived in Durban as quickly as possible.

The return game could be a mountain too high for a team that is still working on being consistently successful.

They were a shadow of the team Cheika knows they can be and that players dream they could be.

It is all part of the road to France 2023. Fans and pundits got suddenly excited about the prospect of having the best ever Rugby Championship. A third win will certainly make it that.

If success is bred into Argentine rugby culture, then this will come with time, hard work and effort.

Maybe not as quickly as next Saturday.

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J
Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

36 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

36 Go to comments
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