Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
One week on from defeating New Zealand in Wellington, Argentina was far from repeating that performance at Auckland’s Eden Park. The New Zealand All Blacks responded with a 42-10 victory, doing so with a dominated first-half performance.
So good were the All Blacks that Argentina were smashed in the collisions and scrums while also being unable to adequately arrange their defense. The match was decided in the second-quarter. New Zealand went from 14-3 up to 35-3.
Damian McKenzie converted all six of New Zealand’s tries. He was also the first to score. With New Zealand camped inside the Pumas 22, Jordie Barrett kicked over for McKenzie to chase and score. McKenzie’s opposite, Santiago Carreras, responded with a penalty on 11 minutes.
Again on attack and deep inside Los Pumas 22, New Zealand came away with points. Loose head Tamaiti Williams was stopped inches short but recycled ball saw captain Ardie Savea over. Next, the captain linked with Caleb Clark for New Zealand’s third try.
It got worse for Argentina. TJ Perenara went right and like with Will Jordan who scored. This try came without having extra players. The fifth score saw Beauden Barrett under the posts. It was carnage at Eden Park with Argentina down and out before half-time.
The second-half starts no differently. Perenara, McKenzie and Jordan combined with the Crusaders winger over for his second try. It was 42-3 at this stage. The next points came 29 minutes later with Tomás Albornoz converted a try by Juan Cruz Mallía.
A lot of analysis will go into this performance from Felipe Contepomi’s side. The match statistics were against his side too. New Zealand carried for 464 meters compared to 323 by Argentina. The All Blacks defeated 31 defenders compared to 14 by Argentina while the South Americans missed 31 missed tackles.
The All Blacks were also superior in the set-piece. New Zealand won 15/16 out their own lineouts compared to 12/14 won by Los Pumas. Neither side lost a scrum on their one put-in; though, New Zealand won the battle by forcing Argentina back and winning multiple penalties.
Argentina was actually slightly better than New Zealand at rucks. Los Pumas won 98% of their own rucks compared to 96% won by the home side. New Zealand’s halves ran this match though with Gonzalo Bertranou’s distribution and organization at scrum-half being an evident short-fall.
Australia host South Africa in the other round two match of the 2024 Rugby Championship. Argentina next face the Wallabies at home in La Plata on August 31. The All Blacks faced the Springboks in Johannesburg on the same date.
| SCORING |
NEW ZEALAND (42)
Try (6) – D McKenzie (6′), A Savea (15′), C Clarke (22′), W Jordan 2 (28′, 41′), B Barrett (35′)
Con (1) – D McKenzie 6/6 (7′, 16′, 23′, 29′, 36′, 42′)
ARGENTINA (10)
Try (1) – JC Mallía (70′)
Con (1) – T Albornoz 1/1 (71′)
Pen (1) – S Carreras 1/1 (11′)
| LINEUPS |
NEW ZEALAND
1 Tamaiti Williams, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Tupou Vaa’i ,5 Sam Darry, 6 Ethan Blackadder, 7 Dalton Papali’i, 8 Ardie Savea (capt.), 9 TJ Perenara, 10 Damian McKenzie, 11 Caleb Clarke, 12, Jordie Barrett, 13 Rieko Ioane, 14 Will Jordan, 15 Beauden Barrett
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Cortez Ratima, Anton Lienert-Brown, Mark Tele’a
ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Lucio Sordoni, 4 Marcos Kremer, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Matías Moroni, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Tomás Lavanini, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Bautista Delguy
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (Australia); Nic Berry (Australia)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
