Argentina against the All Blacks is a bit of a nasty game
for the Kiwis – a sort of no-win. If
they lose, they face mass hysteria – if they win, they will inevitably get
asked why they didn’t pile more points on.
I had proclaimed beforehand that this Argentina side, at home, are
capable of causing big upsets – and they are, except I may have got carried
away with the romanticism of the underdog in contemplating a win for Los
Pumas. After all, they are yet to win in
almost 2 seasons in this competition whilst their World Cup Champion opposition
have swept aside all-comers over the last 2 years (baring one off-day last
Autumn). In tug of war terms, there was
only going to be one side getting dragged through the mud, surely?
The game started in real heave-ho fashion, with both sides
making sharp breaks without any end conviction, although the Pumas’ set piece –
in particular the scrum – was looking very dominant. It meant that they could take a 6 – 3 lead as
they passed the 20 minute mark, with a pair of Nicolas Sanchez penalties sandwiching
a nudge from Aaron Cruden. The crowd at
La Plate were in full voice – could they be about to witness one of the
greatest upsets of all time?
The Kiwis, though, have a speciality of dashing people’s
dreams, and stand-in skipper Kieran Read led the way. The number 8 timed his defensive run to
perfection (so much so, everyone thought he was offside) to force Sanchez, who
had been shaping up for a drop goal, into a hurried bomb and, from there,
Julian Savea took control of the loose ball and palmed off 2 defenders to
gallop his way in from 60 metres. Cruden
missed the conversion, with local fans p*ssing off everyone in general by
shining laser pens on the ball, but was successful with a penalty 2 minutes later. It gave the visitors a 5 point lead that was
reduced to 2 thanks to another Sanchez effort, leaving the half time score at
11 – 9. The underdogs were very much in
the game.
They were more than in the game from the restart, as centre Marcelo
Bosch gave them the lead with a long range strike, but the All Blacks pack were
starting to dominate possession in the loose, forcing turnovers and slowing the
hosts’ ball down to Andy Goode pace.
This dominance showed when, following another Cruden penalty and a lot
of Kiwi pressure, slick hands from Cruden and Ma’a Nonu put Sam Cane in for a
score in the corner. Five minutes
later, and the World Champions had gone from being under pressure to being in
cruise control, as Ben Smith burst onto a delightfully delayed Nonu pass to
race through the defence, past Juan Martin Hernandez, and over the whitewash. Cruden’s conversion put the win in the bag
and the bonus point very much on the cards.
To the hosts’ credit though, they were in no mood to
surrender such a gift without a fight.
Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Patricio Albacete all made
telling hits to smash back any Kiwi momentum, and Sanchez in fact knocked over
another penalty goal to bring the Pumas to within two scores. But this New Zealand team has class and, more
importantly, resilience in a abundance.
It was Ben Smith, again, who was the go-to man, as the winger joined the
line off a maul and burst through (and over) weak tackles from Felipe Contepomi
and Sanchez, to claim the bonus point score under the posts.
The final score was 33-15.
It turns out it will take the Pumas more than passion and pride to turn
this group of Kiwis over.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Share your views