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, 10:47 am
What an asset Nonu is to his team
9 Oct 2011, 10:48 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-94:
sincere condolences bud…celebrate her life…!
@Bod(bod)-97:
as is your prerogative…
9 Oct 2011, 10:48 am
Thank you Dawn.
9 Oct 2011, 10:48 am
Seem to have forgotten we have backs.
9 Oct 2011, 10:49 am
Yellow not nice.
9 Oct 2011, 10:49 am
UFO
cheers mate. thanks.
9 Oct 2011, 10:50 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-100: lol
9 Oct 2011, 10:50 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-94: Sincere condolences. Hope rugby will cheer you up somehow somewhat.
9 Oct 2011, 10:51 am
The yellow has killed of this great contest.
9 Oct 2011, 10:51 am
No try. Had wide space for 60 seconds while the forwards did nothing. Always good to leave what has worked for years in the change shed. Spin the ball after sucking the forwards in for heavens sake!
9 Oct 2011, 10:53 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-94:
Sorry to hear that brother.
9 Oct 2011, 10:53 am
Pops your mom would’ve wanted you to carry on enjoying the game you love!
9 Oct 2011, 10:53 am
@Mr Black(Mr Black)-109:
Actually i have seen teams play better with 14 players, strange really
9 Oct 2011, 10:54 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-94:
Condolences Pops. Losing a parent is dreadful. I know how you feel.
9 Oct 2011, 10:54 am
Argentina 10 Sodomite 18
9 Oct 2011, 10:54 am
Toeava forks up again
9 Oct 2011, 10:55 am
Now I really am crying.
9 Oct 2011, 10:55 am
Thanks Nils, Hurri.
life goes on though. impressed with the argies, think their inclusion next year will only see them improve exponentially.
9 Oct 2011, 10:56 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-113:
True, but the extra focus on defense tells in the end.
9 Oct 2011, 10:56 am
@Kobus Kitty(Kobus Kitty)-115:
Kobus still crying.
It amazing your still hanging around with all the cr@p you been saying
9 Oct 2011, 10:57 am
Cruden has got the correct confidence level for the 10 job. Give it to him now.
9 Oct 2011, 10:57 am
all blacks gonna win, but they are far from convincing. no wonder AB fans so happy boks lost.
9 Oct 2011, 10:57 am
@chch(chch)-116: toeava is an Auckalofa boy, he does no wrong
9 Oct 2011, 10:57 am
When you see the ABs’ poor display today, it only makes our loss even worse !
9 Oct 2011, 10:58 am
Lol, how many times have we seen the Argentinian players do the “Card signal” to the ref and touch judges.
Someone needs to tell them this is rugby.
9 Oct 2011, 10:58 am
Good to see they calling using the shoulder to clear out the rucks.
Not really needed in the game
9 Oct 2011, 10:59 am
Thanks Stormer bud.
9 Oct 2011, 10:59 am
Everyone goes in with the shoulder at the following ruck but no whistle. Admire the complete lack of consistency the refs have contributed to the world cup.
9 Oct 2011, 11:00 am
Is Cruden a Hutt boy cos he sure looks like one!
9 Oct 2011, 11:00 am
@Boks_B_to_win_RWC_2011(p0ppa69)-19:
Almost no New Zealanders can make the Lions side …. do you normally follow table tennis?
9 Oct 2011, 11:00 am
@munkiboi(munkiboi)-122:
Im not happy you guys lost.
Mind you i know you were all happy in 2007 when we lost.
9 Oct 2011, 11:01 am
and that’s the ball game. Top effort Argentina
9 Oct 2011, 11:01 am
Not convincing, but finally!
9 Oct 2011, 11:02 am
When I visit NZ there’s only one place I wanna see.
Lower Hutt!
9 Oct 2011, 11:02 am
@chch(chch)-130: damn it “not make”
9 Oct 2011, 11:02 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-134:
lol
9 Oct 2011, 11:02 am
That should be it. Nevertheless bravo, Pumas, another brave performance. Bring on Four nations.
9 Oct 2011, 11:03 am
watching this game makes loss to walla even worse. the way we played we’d have smoked these posers next week.
go the all blacks. dont let those freaking aussies win.
9 Oct 2011, 11:03 am
Mmm, that could have ended very differently. Good try at last ABs
9 Oct 2011, 11:03 am
All Blacks will have to up the tempo if they want to beat the Aussies next week.
9 Oct 2011, 11:04 am
And proud record of scoring a try in consecutive 94 Tests continues.
9 Oct 2011, 11:04 am
As forward a pass as any of ours…
9 Oct 2011, 11:05 am
@ET.(ET.)-27:
Maybe even Australia
9 Oct 2011, 11:05 am
@Mr Black(Mr Black)-140: as long as QC plays you should be ok I think
9 Oct 2011, 11:06 am
Another forward pass, guess it’s okay if you wear black
9 Oct 2011, 11:06 am
All Blacks wont beat wales if they play like this! Also All Blacks never beat the Boks – hollow victory if they go on and win it same in 1987 when they didn’t allow the Boks to play – Boks were the best rugby team ever then!! …. in 1995 we beat Aus, France & the all blacks!
9 Oct 2011, 11:08 am
Argies discipline in big matches are terrible, think they will improve once they join the 4Ns
9 Oct 2011, 11:08 am
great effort Argentina. game we needed no doubt.
9 Oct 2011, 11:09 am
@danuk(danuk)-144:
I’m not okay, my team lost today.
9 Oct 2011, 11:09 am
This is how England win (apart from we haven’t cheated), please another try
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