'They're a dangerous side': The biggest threat the Pumas pose to the All Blacks
When the Pumas and All Blacks take to the field at Sydney’s Bankwest Stadium on Saturday, it will be Argentina’s first test match in 402 days.
The last time Mario Ledesma’s side played an official test was against the USA at last year’s World Cup, leaving them at long odds of clinching the biggest of shock victories over a New Zealand team they have never beaten.
Until a fortnight ago, a large number of Argentine players hadn’t played a match at all since Super Rugby was suspended in March.
Even the matches they have played over the past two weeks have only been against a Rugby Australia XV, certainly a far cry from the might of the All Blacks.
By comparison, Ian Foster’s squad enjoyed a full Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign, reinstated the North vs South derby, locked away the Bledisloe Cup for another year from a four-match series against Australia and currently lead the Tri-Nations.
The volume and quality of matches the New Zealanders have played since coming back into action in June unsurprisingly places them as firm favourites to extend their lead in the makeshift SANZAAR competition.
Aiding their bid to do just that is the return of eight key players that starred in the 43-5 drubbing of the Wallabies in Bledisloe III, all of whom missed the 24-22 upset defeat at the hands of the Australians in Brisbane last week.
Thrusting that cohort back into New Zealand’s starting team eliminates the feeling of unfamiliarity that was evident in the All Blacks side that was left on its haunches at Suncorp Stadium.
Instead, they have been replaced by a XV that is widely considered to be Foster’s premier run-on squad.
Featuring a halves pairing of Richie Mo’unga and Aaron Smith, a back three of Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett and Caleb Clarke, as well as the likes of Patrick Tuipulotu, Joe Moody and Dane Coles up front, much is expected of All Blacks captain Sam Cane and his troops.
There's not going to be any extended holiday in Australia for these folks. #AllBlackshttps://t.co/951wLRlAFF
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“I think just based off the way we’ve trained this week, the group’s been pretty clinical,” Cane told reporters from the team’s Manly hotel over a Zoom call on Friday of how his side have prepared.
“We’ve been training well, and with that we’ve just got to get the mental aspect of the game right, and that pretty much comes down to attitude and desire to get up off our line defensively and a lot to do with work rate and things like that.”
Do not be mistaken, though – that softly-spoken confidence doesn’t translate to complacency from New Zealand’s viewpoint.
After first coming into camp back in August, a month before Foster even named his initial All Blacks squad, Cane is aware of the unity and cohesion that is bound to have formed among the Argentines.
He sees that as a genuine threat to his team’s chances of success, and is expecting an early onslaught from the Pumas to dent any Kiwi hopes of a runaway victory.
“Any time a team has had a lot of preparation building up to a test match and so much energy has gone into it, they’re always going to be a dangerous side,” he said.
“I think they’re the first Argentinian professional team to be playing and representing their country this year, so they’ll go out with immense pride and we know how passionate they can be, so we’re expecting the first 20 minutes, particularly, for it to be all on.”
Gaining any kind of ascendency over their counterparts in the early stages of the contest may be enough to allow the Pumas to flourish and play to their strengths.
Pointing to their physicality and well-structured attack, Cane reaffirmed the importance of keeping the Argentinians at bay.
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“They can obviously be very physical, but I think the toughest part about playing the Pumas at their best is their ability to keep the ball alive.
“Their offloading, they’re very good on their feet and run good lines, so it’s that keeping the ball alive, getting in behind the gain line again and again which can make them a hard beast to stop.
“We’ll have to try nullify that, get off the line, chop them, get two men in the tackle, and hopefully we don’t see too much of that tomorrow.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen 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.
27 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.
9 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.
27 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?
11 Go to comments