‘Understanding why’: Pumas moving on ‘quickly’ from England defeat
Argentina have turned their focus to “three very, very important games” at the Rugby World Cup after losing their tournament opener 27-10 to a 14-man England on Saturday.
Backrower Tom Curry was sent to the sin bin inside the opening few minutes, and that incident was upgraded to a red card offence shortly after. England had their backs up against the wall.
Wins have proved hard to come by for Steve Borthwick’s team this year, but this incident seemed to galvanise the English on the sport’s biggest stage in Marseille.
Los Pumas were able to split possession 50-50 with their opponents and also finished with a slight advantage in the territory battle with 53 per cent.
But a depleted England outfit won on the scoreboard, and that’s the stat that counts.
England are riding high after a statement performance, but the same can’t be said for Los Pumas. Argentina may need to win all three of their Pool D matches against Samoa, Chile and Japan if they’re to qualify for the quarter-finals in France.
“At this time the focus was on the best way to analyse the match technically,” Argentina forwards coach Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe said.
“It was the first game in a World Cup in which nothing could be defined, in which the team’s great preparation could not be shown. Solutions could not be found at the time.
“We have to quickly analyse our game as there are three very, very important games left.”
With former coach Eddie Jones at the helm, England were bested by their Argentine rivals on an unforgettable day at Twickenham last November.
England played another three Tests under Jones before replacing the rugby guru with Steve Borthwick, but things haven’t exactly gone to plan.
In the Borthwick era, England had only managed to win 3 from 9 Tests ahead of the Rugby World Cup. That’s what makes the win over Argentina, against all odds, so staggering.
As for Los Pumas, they were a fan-favourite pick to make it out of the group – some even tipped them to top their pool. Argentina recently beat Australia in Sydney and ran world champion South Africa close two months ago.
But one result, be that a win or a loss, can’t define a campaign. Following the defeat to England, Fernandez Lobbe insisted that Los Pumas are still “a solid team.”
“The team had been inspiring other things. If one thinks that in two years we showed confidence and lost it by one game, then it would not be a solid team. It is a solid team, with solid players,” Fernandez Lobbe added.
“Now, it is understanding why the image that the team gave was one of a lack of confidence. There are three games left to build the dream that this team is chasing. It is not hiding or putting aside errors. This is a team that sticks together and looks for solutions.”
Argentina will return to Rugby World Cup action in just under two weeks’ time when they take on Samoa in Saint-Etienne, and later Chile and Japan to conclude pool play.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting 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.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 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.
4 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
4 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…
2 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 comments