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All Blacks V Argentina 2nd Test The Rugby Championship
By Paul Rolton
A passionate Argentina upset the All Blacks in the second test in Buenos Aires to send shock waves through the All Blacks, camp and also throwing the Rugby Championship points table wide open again.
The 29-23 victory was the first for the Puma’s on home soil over the All Blacks and was based on a better kicking and aerial retrieval game, combined with a poor handling and kicking game from the All Blacks. Though the biggest difference was passion which the Puma’s had in buckets full, and the All Blacks just never seemed to find.
A sloppy start from New Zealand with uncharacteristic errors, poor ball handling and a number of missed tackles laid the foundation for what was one of the worst games in the Robertson error. This game left more questions than answers to be pondered before the upcoming tests with World Champions South Africa and old foes Australia.
The sides exchanged penalties early in what was a stop start first 15 minutes before the Puma went ahead 6-3 from another penalty, which seemed to spark the All Blacks into their best phase of the match. A couple of Fabian Holland lineout takes were the spark for the best attack, with Codie Taylor playing in his 100th test going close down the right-hand side before the ball was quickly moved to Rieko Ioane on the left wing, and after a strong run he was held up short. Quick ball saw a nice short pass to Billy Procter who was rewarded for excellent support play with the try. Beaudin Barrett was unable to convert, with the All Blacks ahead 8-6.
Another Holland lineout take minutes later saw a strong run from Ardie Savea with Sevu Reece held up just short. From the resulting scrum a strong Procter carry was followed buy debutant Simon Parker carrying strongly and drawing in two tacklers before big tight head prop Fletcher Newall drove through some weak Puma defense for an outstanding try in the left corner. Barrett was again wide with the conversion however at 13-6 it looked like the All Blacks were set to take control, but this never came.
A yellow card to All Black Fullback Will Jordan for changing his line after a chip through from Mateo Carreras in the 32nd minute saw the Argentinians backing their scrum. Again, they went left to the electric Carreras followed by a strong carry from their skipper Julian Montoya before the ball end up in the hands of Juan Gonzalez who was driven over by the whole Puma pack and with a Carreras conversion the game was tied up at 13-13. To make matters worse the TMO found an intentional knock down from All Blacks loose forward Tupou Vaa’i for another yellow card and the All Blacks to play with 13.
The second half started with Barrett missing a normally straight forward penalty from 35 out and in front, and things started to look shaky for an All Black team that seemed lost for a game plan, or change of gameplan to counter act what was now a more confident looking Puma’s side. Penalties from Carress in the 52nd and 56th minute only added to the frustration for the New Zealand team and with Pablo Matea leading from the front Argentina took control.
Right-on three-quarter time the Puma’s scored the try that took them out to a 13-point lead. Conzales was again prominent, with Joaquin Oviedo going close from a barnstorming run before diminutive halfback Gonzalo Garcia snipped from the resulting breakdown to score a well constructed 5 pointer, with Carreras adding the extras.
With 20 minutes left to play the character of this All Black team was being bought into question, and they needed to respond quickly. Pinning the Puma’s inside their own 22 metre area saw big carries from replacement players Wallace Sititi and Samisoni Taukei’aho and with Holland towering at lineout time the All Blacks had their most dominant 10 minutes of the second 40. They finally got their reward in the 68th minute when after a strong All Blacks drive Taukei’aho crashed over for replacement first 5/8 Damien McKenzie to convert from the left and there was a glimmer of hope.
A silly mistake from Reece was the final nail in the coffin for his side when he was yellow carded in the 72 minute for knocking a Puma’s pass down, and with 2 Puma’s attackers free on the outside this was deemed to be deliberate, and the resulting penalty from Carreras took the Puma’s out to a 9 point lead.
Try as they might the All Blacks could not put a try together in the last 8 minutes and with the hooter having gone for fulltime, they were forced to take a penalty shot at goal, which McKenzie duly converted to pick up a bonus point.
The Argentinian side was jubilant after the hard-fought victory whilst the All Blacks will look back on this loss as one of their worse for some time. The Puma’s had outstanding contributions from Matera, Montoya and Carreras but really everyone stood up and they will remember this victory for a long time.
With a two-week break now before they play the Springbok at Eden Park, where the All Blacks have not lost since 1994, questions will be asked and decisions will need to be made around the performances of a number of players from today’s loss.
With Cortez Ratima going off early with a chest injury the speed of the All Blacks ball seemed to drop, whilst his replacement Findlay Christie didn’t have his best day with his kicking from the base of the maul. Having Cam Roigard back will make a big difference and if Ratima is out it might be time to give Wellington Lions Kyle Preston an opportunity. Questions, for some, still remain around the ability of McKenzie to control a game at this level, especially if his pack is under pressure as it was today, whilst our phase ball kicking game, which was poor today, will need to be sorted and quickly. Game sense might also be question with a number of arm chair critics asking why McKenzie was left to tackle a rampant Matea from the back of a Puma scrum 5 metres out from his own line, which result is a Puma’s try.
The front 5 more than held its own in the first two games of the Championship, with Ethan De Groot, Newall and Taylor being strong, Holland was a presence in both lineout work and defense, whilst captain Scott Barrett is still working his way back to full fitness. With Tamaiti Williams fit again and Tyrel Lomax still to return the only issue may well be who is our second hooker, whilst Taukei’aho is strong around the park his lineout throwing under pressure still has questions being asked. It will be in the lose forward mix that the coaching staff will lose the most sleep. Savea picks himself, but is it at 8 or 7 did Parker do enough in this game, in a beaten pack, to be given another chance, possibly at 6. Is Vaa’i the answer at 6, where he has looked promising, or does he lack the presence against sides like South Africa. And for the Hurricanes fans they will all be saying what does Du Plessis Kirifi have to do to wear the 7 jersey every week.
In other games South Africa got up over a gallant Australia winning 30-22, splitting there matches 1-1.