Blacks battle past Pumas
8 Sep 2012
SIMON BORCHARDT saw the All Blacks score two tries in the final quarter to beat Argentina 21-5 in Wellington.
Wet weather is a great leveller and that proved to be the case here as the Pumas went into half-time just one point behind the world champions. But the rain stopped, the wind died down, and the visitors’ resistance predictably crumbled at the 60-minute mark after flanker Julio Farias Cabello was yellow carded for a deliberate knock down.
Soon after, Conrad Smith committed three Pumas’ defenders before sending Julian Savea away for a try that made it 14-5. And with five minutes to go, and the Pumas back to 15 men, a long pass from Aaron Cruden saw Cory Jane dive over in the right-hand corner.
The match had begun in driving rain and swirling wind, with the latter pushing Cruden’s first penalty attempt wide. The All Blacks flyhalf, who was a late replacement for the injured Dan Carter, then knocked on (a sign of things to come for his side) before succeeding with his second attempt at goal.
The Pumas had effectively slowed the Boks’ ball down at the breakdown in Mendoza but French referee Romain Poite was not so charitable in Wellington and they were pinned a couple times early on. However, that didn’t deter the visitors from flooding the breakdown.
The committed Pumas’ defence forced the All Blacks into making mistakes that could not be blamed on the weather. In the 13th minute, Ma’a Nonu lost possession in the tackle and Argentina sent the ball wide. Their forwards then bashed away at the line, with loosehead prop Rodrigo Roncero finding a gap around the fringes to score the first try of the game.
Cruden’s boot edged the All Blacks back in front 6-5 soon after, but the handling errors continued with Kieran Read knocking on with the tryline in sight and Richie McCaw spilling the ball just before the break.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen must have given his side a helluva tongue-lashing at half-time and a city-wide power failure gave him an extra 10 minutes to do so.
His side produced a better performance in the second half, with better conditions allowing them to sent the ball wide on two occassions that resulted in two tries.
But Hansen will be the first to admit that there is massive room for improvement, and Heyneke Meyer will be hoping the world champions don’t hit their straps in Dunedin next weekend.
488 Comments
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8 Sep 2012, 11:05 am
Would that have been a yellow against any team other than the ABs?
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
Banana kick
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
that banana kick
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
Messam offside from Cruden kick!
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
@poppa69-299: You should pull this one through mate
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
Maradonna would have been proud of that one. what a beaut
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
Go Pumas, hold on.
I have no doubts, NZ will win, would be brilliant for Pumas to get a bonus point though.
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
Amazing skills by JMH!
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
what a kick!
very very skillful.
@CSI:Rugby-298: agreed, i hate it.
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
Ricky’s twin brother on.
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
Tackled in the air. Not blown
8 Sep 2012, 11:06 am
What a kick!
8 Sep 2012, 11:07 am
@301 yes. What punishment would you give for a a professional foul to stop a try scoring move?
8 Sep 2012, 11:07 am
no one running off hernandez.
wake up argies.
8 Sep 2012, 11:07 am
They couldn’t catch a cold if they tried, the all black backs
8 Sep 2012, 11:08 am
@willievz-305: not over yet mate, we have had the better of the half so far. Foster is farking up our backs though
8 Sep 2012, 11:08 am
yup thats what we used to call it. The banana.
8 Sep 2012, 11:08 am
@Pencil-313: it was very debatable mate.
looked like he went for the ball which is fair play.
bs yellow.
8 Sep 2012, 11:09 am
Hmm, dunno about that. He certainly went for the ball, but it looked like he was trying to prevent the pass by slapping it down rather than intercept it. Maybe I’ll have to watch it again.
8 Sep 2012, 11:09 am
the boks scored 3 tries in capetown.
puts things in perspective imo.
cant wait to see the aussies and abs travel to argiebargie land.
8 Sep 2012, 11:10 am
@TASSIES-317: and not very easy to execute. Bloody brilliant by that Arg.
8 Sep 2012, 11:10 am
@rangerman-318: learn the rules mate..
8 Sep 2012, 11:10 am
Kookwater
8 Sep 2012, 11:11 am
Yellow and light failure marred this game.
8 Sep 2012, 11:11 am
Fantastic defence by the Pumas.
8 Sep 2012, 11:11 am
@Pencil-319: nah mate, no slap down at all imo.
too much emotion by the ref.
weepu adding some urgency.
8 Sep 2012, 11:12 am
too good abs.
well done.
8 Sep 2012, 11:12 am
Conrad Smith – best 13 in the game today..
8 Sep 2012, 11:12 am
GREAT TRY
KIWIS WILL NOT BE LOOKING FORWARD TO TRIP TO aRGIES THOUGH…
8 Sep 2012, 11:12 am
good try. Was kinda expecting that with 14 defending. Arg is tiring methinks.
8 Sep 2012, 11:12 am
@poppa69-322: open both eyes mate.
8 Sep 2012, 11:12 am
good try, has to be said, Argentina need to hold on now and not capitulate like they did at the World Cup
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
@rangerman-326:
It certainly came off his outstretched hand and went down. The only question is; was he going for an intercept, or was he trying to spoil? My first impression was that he was just trying to get in the way, but I’d have to see it again.
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
@kaksioek-325:
Yep, excellent defense from the Pumas.
@rangerman-326:
Slap down, close to penalty try imo
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
@rangerman-320: True, just do not forget, that was first Argie game in the comp, they looked very nervous. I do not think life for the Boks would have been that easy had they met in CT next week with Argie confidence skyrocketing after following 2 performances.
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
Smith a national kiwi treasure…
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
That was the knockout blow… but very impressed by the Pumas – they’re in it for the business, I’d even back them to avoid the wooden spoon this year.
Today they’ve played better than I expect our Bokke to.
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
argies need to get down the abs half.
hard when you are a man down though.
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
Well, that extra 10 minute break and sending a man off paid off. Congrats.
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
Good try, a final pass that final stuck, first in a long while. Buenos Aires well be epic. Argentina well take away massive belief from here regardless of result.
8 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
All Blacks usually score between 10 and 15 points when they play against 14 men.
Today they score in the last minute of the 10 that the Argie is in the sin bin. Pity the Argies could not hold out one more minute.
Good try.
8 Sep 2012, 11:14 am
@Big Hit-332:
Yep, we only won by slotting penalties in that game.
Argies are really a handful
8 Sep 2012, 11:14 am
The Allblacks precision is a lot better in the second half and they’re looking a lot better because of this. It has to be said though, the Argies defence has made the AB’s attack look rather impotent.
8 Sep 2012, 11:15 am
And therein lies the difference between the Boks and AB’s thus far. When Plan A doesn’t work (the offload game), go to plan B and be patient….
Or what say you John Galt?
8 Sep 2012, 11:15 am
Arg back to 15. But I think the game has already stepped out of their reach. good performance in spite of though.
8 Sep 2012, 11:15 am
Normality resumed, yet all credit to those Latin warriors…….nice wakeup call for Abs……massive backlash next week
8 Sep 2012, 11:15 am
Messam has added some starch since coming on, think he now oversteps Vito for the 6 spot..
8 Sep 2012, 11:15 am
Where’s Transie, waiting for him to give me an update on “the best nr8 in the game”
8 Sep 2012, 11:15 am
Aaaah feckit
8 Sep 2012, 11:16 am
@Hurricane-334: ag there was no slap down bud, that just nonsense.
watch it again.
and again.
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