The Wallabies are the team Los Pumas know how to play, we'll see about the All Blacks
Altitude has always been an issue with rugby. The rarified air of the veldt and the length a ball can travel have been topics of discussion for ages.
After so many years of Super Rugby and Tri Nations/Rugby Championship, teams have found ways to minimize the risk.
How will Argentina deal with being at the top of the Rugby Championship table, the heady height of number one, after two rounds is something that time will tell.
When a week ago, we wrote about the mental stability of a Puma team that failed to manage their own pressures and expectations, no-one was expecting a recovery of the strength and standard of that seen in San Juan, when the Wallabies were totally obliterated and lost by a record margin.
With the four competing teams tied at five tournament points, Los Pumas 48-17 win placed them at the top of the table.
They are now in Sydney, resting ahead of their trip across the Tasman for round three and an All Black side that has remembered how good it feels to win.
“This win was, for the people, for everybody, important. But for us we need to take this game and set it as our standard, and be better for the next game,” were, give or take, Michael Cheika’s words in broken Spanish after the end of the game.
Many said the performance was perfect; it wasn’t but it showed what this team can become. It can be argued that what Argentina did under the San Juan sun shows that the Wallabies are the team Los Pumas know how to play better.
Wins in 2014, 2018, two draws in 2020 and moments in other games in which Los Pumas were better, came to fruition on Saturday as everything they did turned to, a bit of a pun intended, gold.
By bringing the penalty-count down to nine throughout the game, it showed how much work had been done in the week leading up to the rematch. Both technical and mental.
The previous week in Mendoza, there were moments in which the home side showed how well they could play but it was not a complete game and imploding for 20 minutes, the game was lost.
The Wallabies, certainly missing the leadership of Michael Hooper, were a shadow of the team they had been a week earlier. With a disappointing start that yielded 14 points in seven minutes, including the first of seven tries within the first sixty seconds, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Dave Rennie’s team.
Argentina were better in the scrum and rather than playing quick ball from the lineout, opted for mauling the Wallabies with incredible success. One maul in the second half was only stopped some 40 metres from where it had started.
“We were much better than last week; for fifty, fifty-five minutes we were still quite even in the score. Out attitude to continue playing, to try to be better in each action, made me very happy,” said Cheika who is back at home, using with the team his Randwick club field, and why not Coogee Beach across the street, before the short trip to New Zealand.
The hard work was noticeable and the ability to correct on-the-go showed how the new Puma staff has gelled and how they are reaching out to players, a mix of very experienced players and a younger generation that is coming through with great success.
Youth will be prominent in the squad to play New Zealand, mostly in the front row where 37-year old Agustín Creevy will pass on his No 16 jersey to 22-year old Ignacio Ruiz.
Also missing will be props Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro and Francisco Gómez Kodela, senior statesmen of the front row.
Thomas Gallo, only 23, will land in Christchurch for the first time, on the back of scoring a brace, his personal second, against Australia. A tour guide will probably be Pablo Matera, who after being a Super Rugby champion with the Crusaders, returns to the Garden City aiming to recreate his high standard there.
The hard test that the All Blacks always represent comes with the added pressure of a team that came back from a dark place to win with pragmatism against the Springboks.
Uncertain at the time of writing what will happen with the coaching staff, they certainly still have their backs against the wall and are very dangerous. They have always been and Los Pumas, with a huge input from Cheika, have beaten them only once in 2020.
Since the start of The Rugby Championship in 2012, Argentina would travel to New Zealand for round three. Never were they leading in a congested table.
Looking from the dizzy heights is great.
The team is on an upward trend, regardless of the outcome of the two-test series against the All Blacks.
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
3 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments