Piri pounds Pumas
9 Oct 2011
MARK KEOHANE reports that Piri Weepu kicked 21 points against the Pumas as the All Blacks advanced to the World Cup semi-finals.
The All Black won 33-10 after leading 12-7 at halftime. They will play the Wallabies for a place in the final.
Wales and France will contest the other semi-final. Both play-off matches will be in Auckland.
The bookies had the All Blacks to win by 20 points and while the result was never an issue All Blacks coach Graham Henry would have expected more patience and precision from his side.
Weepu, starting at scrumhalf, also assumed the goalkicking as flyhalf Colin Slade stuttered through another 30 minutes of World Cup agony.
Slade was as poor as he has been in every Test and when he hobbled off after 33 minutes you could almost sense the relief of a nation. Slade may yet come of age as a Test flyhalf but it won’t be at this World Cup. His replacement Aaron Cruden was an improvement and played with a calm and authority not seen from Slade.
The Pumas, courageous from the first minute, played to avoid humiliation. They offered nothing outside of bravery and referee Nigel Owens could easily have carded half the team for repeated infringements at the breakdown. Owens’s leniency meant a decent play-off work out for the All Blacks and kept the Pumas crowd interested for an hour.
Argentina remarkably scored the first try, against the run of play, to lead 7-6 after 30 minutes but the scoreline never reflected the flow of the contest. The All Blacks were superior in every aspect. Twice they were denied a try by TMO decisions and more often than not Argentina opted to concede the three points instead of a potential seven.
The hosts were effective in disrupting the Argentina lineout, poaching five from 11, but they would have expected to create more with the ball and territorial advantage. The Pumas made 135 tackles to the All Blacks 54 so they at least won something on the night. They also had the more inspiring supporters and the prettiest.
But there was nothing beautiful about the way they played and it was a case of damage control. They did not want to be whipped and recognised (as did every observer) that they did not have the skill to turn on the kind of spectacle produced in Wellington when Wales played Ireland.
The All Blacks, when they did show patience and respect for holding onto the ball, looked dangerous, but often the attack was too lateral. Wingers Sonny Bill Williams and Cory Jane had their moments and so did the midfield pairing of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith. The best of the backs was Weepu who has matured as a player and a leader. He showed on Saturday night that he does a bit more than lead the haka in this team.
Jerome Kaino was again impressive and Kieran Read improved with greater game time, but Richie McCaw played as if he only had one leg and the tight five as a unit were decent without ever being destructive.
Argentina is never an easy opponent and they will always offer a contest. But they lacked individual pedigree and collective belief to ever threaten the scoreboard and the All Blacks were predictable and deserved winners.
247 Comments
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9 Oct 2011, 11:31 am
@RL(RL)-193:
Not sure why Mils keep running the ball up the middle like he did. Was odd
9 Oct 2011, 11:32 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-195:
He was a great player before he was under Graham Henry
9 Oct 2011, 11:33 am
@chch(chch)-196: except England
9 Oct 2011, 11:33 am
@chch(chch)-182:
??
Your kidding right?
9 Oct 2011, 11:34 am
Woodcock came through very nicely, coming to his best.
9 Oct 2011, 11:34 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-204: yes
9 Oct 2011, 11:35 am
@chch(chch)-202:
Its called not being able to step up for the big games.
GH coaches Carter and McCaw, your view is somewhat distorted of GH
9 Oct 2011, 11:36 am
@chch(chch)-206:
Good, i was a little worried then.
9 Oct 2011, 11:37 am
@chch(chch)-201:
Mils looked a little lost out there to be honest.
But did they cut off what Mils had to say when he got the cap or did i miss it?
9 Oct 2011, 11:48 am
@chch(chch)-202:
have you purchased your wallabies jersey and Deans portrait yet no doubt you’ll be cheering for the yellow bellies next week along with half the others in the little village
9 Oct 2011, 11:50 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-207:
He is a good player. He may never be a good All Black.
If he is not a good All Black I hope he doesn’t get played again and again like Toeava.
And it is still a fact that we was fine before being under Henry. Not sure why that can be said to be a distorted view of Henry. Never said it was Henry’s fault, that would upset NZinChina.
9 Oct 2011, 11:52 am
From now on no illusions whatsoever – Australia, France, Wales, each will give a helluva tough game, ABs will have to play their 100%. looking forward to it.
9 Oct 2011, 11:52 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-209:
I missed that bit. I wonder if Mils was told to play like that, kind of disguising our future game plan. Took attention off the other new backs who could have been under pressure though.
9 Oct 2011, 11:55 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-210:
Robie Deans had a great result tonight so stuff that up your anti-Kiwi xenophobic arrse
I am going to support Kiwi’s regardless of your demented forked up paranoid Auckland bollocks so get forked with your continuous comments about me owning a Wallabie jersey
ps, get forked you ****
9 Oct 2011, 11:58 am
@chch(chch)-213:
I dont thinkn Mils was told to play like that. I think the pressure is on Mils to be honest and hes feeling it.
9 Oct 2011, 12:05 pm
**** we needed that wake up call.
It’s business time alright
9 Oct 2011, 12:05 pm
Mils is at the end of a brilliant career, he’s just not on the level any longer, Dagg is the new prince, he has all the touches.
9 Oct 2011, 12:07 pm
RL 193, yep, Mils is gone . End
9 Oct 2011, 12:08 pm
Australia will be very tough next week, the AB’s need to be precise, and weepu really needs to provide more Rythm from the base of the ruck.
9 Oct 2011, 12:09 pm
Does anyone know where our Helen is?
9 Oct 2011, 12:14 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-220:
Helen is simply HG in Drag. You are unlikely to see either for a while and HG will make that appearance first.
9 Oct 2011, 12:25 pm
So … after all the jeering and crappy comments about SA kicking in rugby and how ‘running rugby’ is the only way AB’s will ever play, they save their skins by what … PENALTY KICKS. Totally Pathetic. The AB tries were irrelevant as they came once the Argies had given up. Even if the first AB try is included – it was not converted so Argies still up.
The whistling and cat-calls which started at the start of RWC soon came to a grinding halt and into cheers as NZ supporters realized penalty kicks is the only way they are going through the QF. What a two-faced nation.
9 Oct 2011, 12:27 pm
Congratulations to the All Blacks. A hard fought victory playing typical Bok rugby.
Well done.
looking forward to the game against Aus.
9 Oct 2011, 12:41 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-152: Do you still think Nonu is the best 12 in the world? So many schoolboy errors today. He is made to look good by the brilliant players around him, most notably Conrad smith.
9 Oct 2011, 12:42 pm
@TheBoksAreBack(bringbacktheboks)-222:
You’ve been eliminated have you not?
9 Oct 2011, 12:44 pm
@TheBoksAreBack(bringbacktheboks)-222:
Should people have booed?
Was everyone cheering?
Were the whole nation at the game?
You appear to be spouting bollocks
9 Oct 2011, 12:45 pm
@chch(chch)-214:
yer but you do own one
9 Oct 2011, 12:45 pm
@nama1(nama1)-223:
Cheers nama. Same
9 Oct 2011, 12:47 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-227:
I told you I don’t so get forked
So and fork yourself you miserable trolling twaat head xenophobic forker
get forked fork off
9 Oct 2011, 12:48 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-227:
I take it you are in Asia to follow up on your fetish with small children
9 Oct 2011, 12:49 pm
@TheBoksAreBack(bringbacktheboks)-222:
Well to be honest you guys said we cant win playing the way we play.
Now we get the penalties cos the Argies were slowing the ball down and infringing, you complain cos we kick the kicks.
lol, least your not posting your gonna kill the ref, your just in your normal mood of posting anti NZ cr@p, very consistent, unlike your team
9 Oct 2011, 12:51 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-227:
You have one in your room right now right. All this xenophobic stuff is just due to guilt from your pedophilia issues
9 Oct 2011, 13:24 pm
These guys (All Blacks) have had a soft ride all the way through – the Wallabies battered very ordinary forwards (Pocock excepted) have been smashed up and haven’t a hope in a hell of reaching the finals.
It’s like British military policy over the years: send in the Scots and Irish to do the fighting, the Welsh to clean up the mess and the English to come in and manage the survivors. The only remote hope of the All Blacks losing is France; the Kiwis will arrive fresh as daisies to the final having ratched up a cricket score against Australia.
The Boks would have given them a much better fight – what an anti-climax.
9 Oct 2011, 13:46 pm
@J.B. Cowper(J.B. Cowper)-233: We have played who was in front of us hardly our fault….you had Morne to save you but he didn’t..you had nearly all the possesion so therefore Boks choked…we had most of possesion and Weepu put points on the board…
as you Boks have been saying it’s WC rugby lol.
9 Oct 2011, 13:48 pm
@J.B. Cowper(J.B. Cowper)-233: So your saying Boks last world cup win isn’t valid..you had only soft teams to play…lol
9 Oct 2011, 15:58 pm
AB’s were poor today! Fortunately we softened the wallabies up for them. No ref would be stupid enough to give the wallabies the leeway Lawrence gave them today. If he did the Kiwis would lynch him.
The reffing controversy has played into the AB’s hand. Paddy O Brien will no doubt have a chat about the tackled ball and daylight with the appointed official and highlight just where Lawrence got it wrong. Of course publicly O’ Brien will endorse Lawrencve and describe his performance as flawless.
Wales AB final!
9 Oct 2011, 15:58 pm
AB’s were poor today! Fortunately we softened the wallabies up for them. No ref would be stupid enough to give the wallabies the leeway Lawrence gave them today. If he did the Kiwis would lynch him.
The reffing controversy has played into the AB’s hand. Paddy O Brien will no doubt have a chat about the tackled ball and daylight with the appointed official and highlight just where Lawrence got it wrong. Of course publicly O’ Brien will endorse Lawrence and describe his performance as flawless.
Wales AB final!
9 Oct 2011, 17:57 pm
well done all blacks and good luck against the wallabies.
i hope this is your time after all.
9 Oct 2011, 20:00 pm
238, thanks mate, nice
9 Oct 2011, 20:05 pm
3 NZ coaches in the semis, not bad huh
9 Oct 2011, 20:24 pm
@chch(chch)-230:
that is truly SICK
9 Oct 2011, 20:32 pm
Piri’s a better goalkicker than Carter. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
9 Oct 2011, 20:35 pm
If we play as poorly vs Wallabies as we did against Los Pumas, we’ll have our @rses handed to us on a platter.
AB tactics were Dumb and Dumber. Stupid side-to-side, always looking for width immediately, kicking ball away when ball-in-hands with patience would have been far more constructive and no headless-chicken mentality.
The only positive I can take out of this match is that the ABs played utter p000h but still won by 23pts. If we play the same vs Aus we’ll lose by 23.
10 Oct 2011, 06:00 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-241:
His comments are a little disturbing, clearly he’s a closet Wallabie.
10 Oct 2011, 07:01 am
@frenchiebokfan(frenchiebokfan)-124: Well, they did win by 20+. With the emphasis on WIN.
10 Oct 2011, 07:59 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-243:
I agree we don’t want to play like headless chickens, but we did bring a fair amount of the slowing down on ourselves, which stifled our attacks..
Argies did their bit for sure, but Weepu took forever to clear some of the rucks, which gave the Argies plenty of time to reinforce their defences.
Granted it was late in the game and the opposition were possibly a bit worn down, but Cowen’s service was far more crisp and the whole backline looked sharper when he came on.
10 Oct 2011, 08:10 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-245:
I agree.
Critics here are winding up their auto response mechanisms with the predictable dismissal of anything the AB’s do.
Thrash the opposition and the competition were hopeless. Grind out a tough match and the AB’s are showing chinks.
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