All Blacks deliver La Plata masterclass
29 Sep 2012
GARETH DUNCAN watched the All Blacks clinch the inaugural Rugby Championship title with a 54-15 victory over Argentina in La Plata.
If you thought the Springboks were impressive during their 31-8 win over the Wallabies in Pretoria, the All Blacks were outstanding and reminded the rugby fraternity why they’re the No 1 team.
The world champions delivered a powerful performance and starred in all facets of play as they eased past the Pumas, scoring six tries. Wings Cory Jane and Julian Savea grabbed a hat-trick and brace respectively as New Zealand’s expansive approach was highly effective.
The continuity on attack through offloads and quick service at the tackle points were – no other nation can currently match them in this regard. The All Blacks heavies dominated the forwards battle for most parts of the match, creating the platform for the backs to run riot.
Flyhalf Dan Carter also impressed with the boot, slotting five of his eight goal attempts, while Aaron Cruden added two conversions and a penalty.
The Pumas shocked the visitors during the opening moments as they scored the first try thanks to a smart backline move. Fullback Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino ran the perfect angle as he was put into space, and he beat flank Richie McCaw and Carter to surge into the Kiwis’ red zone. A quick pop pass saw scrumhalf Martin Landajo have the speed and power to cross the chalk.
However, it was one-way traffic thereafter.
Clinical breaks from inside centre Ma’a Nonu and No 8 Kieran Read created opportunities for scrumhalf Aaron Smith and Jane respectively. Both scores came off the back of great multi-phase play.
Savea then completed a comprehensive opening 40 showing as he scored two tries in quick succession. The first came from a spilled ball during a Pumas attack, and the No 11 had the speed and skill to finish off a good kick-and-chase score. His second was a powerful strike from close range.
The All Blacks held a 37-8 advantage at half-time. Game, set and match.
Pumas wing Gonzalo Camacho scored shortly after restart, but this only proved to be consolation. New Zealand finished the game with Jane completing his hat-trick and Cruden kicking seven points.
The home crowd showed their appreciation for the entertainment on show as they gave the victors a standing ovation after the final whistle.
The All Blacks now add the Rugby Championship crown to their 10 Tri-Nations titles. They’ll head into their final tournament fixture against the Springboks with an unbeaten 2012 record.
What a game we should have between the two strongest Test powers in Soweto next Saturday.
223 Comments
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30 Sep 2012, 05:12 am
Do you think that you can beat us in the forwards? From what I’ve seen against us two weeks ago and again tonight, we will absolutely hammer you up front.
OK, I see. This is the part that you read and then you sommer decided that I was ” talking about a hammering” (p.194) or that after ” bit of discussion and he is now forecasting 15 – 12 rather than a hammering.” (p. 198)
Come on boys, you are much better than that.
PS: We’ll beat you in any case.
30 Sep 2012, 05:18 am
You’ll hammer us up front and beat us by 3 points he he time for you to get some rest when the masses awake we will be told about a new world order and Bokke domination you’re going to be busy!
30 Sep 2012, 06:04 am
if our passes connect next week like they did today, boks will leak 30 points plus to the AB’s. The AB’s have been threatening all comp to do this, and for a while, even today, too many unforced arrors. Once they were tidies up, it was always going to be a bit too much for Argie to keep pace
We need to tidy our defence
problem for the boks – will they get carried away with defending their record at Loftus and recording a sound win, against what has to be a very ordinary Aus team by all comparisons.
Predict a final margin of 19 points to the AB’s next week
30 Sep 2012, 06:20 am
Who cares, the cups won. At least the boks are playing watchable rugby again so the 80-100,000 spectators wouldn’t have completely wasted their money.
30 Sep 2012, 07:40 am
Boks will beat the AB next week. Foundation will be laid in the forwards.
30 Sep 2012, 08:11 am
@W.P-205:
Good luck with that
30 Sep 2012, 08:13 am
@W.P-205: We will see. When you do a man for man comparison up front there isn’t much in it. AB’s won the set piece battle in Dunedin and the Boks won the breakdown battle, but not much in either call. I don’t think you will see the AB’s come 2nd at the breakdown again if they can get their motivation right. They killed Argentina at the breakdown today and no one else has managed that in this comp. If they take that form into the Bok game the Boks will be in trouble.
Only weapon that the Boks have that might ‘scare’ the AB’s is the maul. Pretty sure that will be a focus this week for both teams. On the other hand, the AB’s have a backline that must be the best in world rugby by a good margin at the moment. If they get enough possession, they will score tries. Great thing I liked tonight was that the coaching staff had worked out the Arg defensive system and how to counter it. I wasn’t sure that without Smith and Henry the current coaching team would be able to do that. Pat on the back for Fozzie.
30 Sep 2012, 08:24 am
Any rugby purists out there will agree that the Boks have a less than impressive midfield. The Aussies were not at their best yesterday. keo and others will have you believe that the game we played was an improvement, but the truth is, nothing has changed from the week before.
Our backline is a few light years behind the Kiwis in every way, shape or form.
de Villiers ran into players as per his usual style and those saying he had a good game are simply playing into the mind games produced by the keo writers. Habana, Goosen and Ruan Pienaar were the pick of the bunch. The kicking coach needs a boot up the a-hole. Clearly he is not any good. Klaar.
If one goes back to watch the game again it will quickly become clear that once again the forwards were the Boks saving grace from another potential embarrassment. Every moment of brilliance came from those guys. They set up moves that lead to several tries, they defended like Trojans and contested the Aussies into bleeding masses of pulp.
Manne, our backline is terrible. Therin lies the big big problem for the Boks. de Villiers on the run yesterday I would bet, could not even outpace Spies in open play. He is old and slow and lacks imagination on the pitch. if he were not the captain I would have replaced him with one of the new youngsters three games ago.
The backline game plan is almost a farce. There is no clear pattern to break the line besides running hard into defenders. This would have been noted by the Kiwis.
Take note: The game against them will be lost through our midfield.
30 Sep 2012, 08:48 am
@Predawn-208:
Yes, HM should bring in Whitehead, Jordaan, Meyer Bosman and lets hope Frans Steyn will be fit next week.
30 Sep 2012, 08:57 am
Damn
I missed Corey’s fend!
30 Sep 2012, 09:00 am
Even de Jongh and the other laaitie need a run.
30 Sep 2012, 10:12 am
@Dawn-210: All 3 of them?
30 Sep 2012, 10:26 am
There were three?
Damn.
He has the best fend in rugby.
30 Sep 2012, 11:40 am
@Te Rangatira-98:
“Woodcock not agile enough anymore”
Do you think the AB pack will be questioning a props agility when he is holding up 900kegs of Bok beef in Soweto ?
30 Sep 2012, 12:00 pm
@The Donkeys Egg-214:
Point is Woodcock is no where near what he use to be. In fact he is slow getting back and alotof the time just does not go back and finds himself offside.
The game has changed and agility is something all players needs especially with the way the ABs are looking to play. Aswell he collapses alotof the scrums and give a alotof free kicks amnd penalties away.
30 Sep 2012, 22:35 pm
Only 216 posts?
Really odd. Seems like a few SA are disappointed at the way the ABs took a part the Argies,they have nothing to say.
I reckon it would be hitting the 1000 posts if the ABs lost with HG and Bakkies spear heading the way…..tossers.
1 Oct 2012, 01:44 am
@The Donkeys Egg-214:
“Do you think the AB pack will be questioning a props agility when he is holding up 900kegs of Bok beef in Soweto ?”
Kia ora Donkey, the answer would probably be no….we know if a test prop is hopeless at scrum time his lifespan in test rugby are numbered, yet the way the game has evolved, props must also be good in other areas, one of these is being able to defend against speedy, stepping backs, where one must be agile in mind and body.
1 Oct 2012, 02:16 am
@Te Rangatira-217: kia ora bro..
“one of these is being able to defend against speedy, stepping backs”
its SA this weekend, we know thats not gonna happen
1 Oct 2012, 02:23 am
@Hurricane-216: hehehe Im waiting for Bakkies dissemination of the game this weekend..
I think he will state emphatically that Peyper is the new Lawrence
as for HG, he’ll be happy with the one win in four the Boks have achieved recently, the adjectives fat maori, © boom ™ and kings cross security guard will be used exceedingly before the test this coming weekend..
as an aside, do you know what France is like in October?
1 Oct 2012, 04:10 am
@poppa69-218:
Kia ora Bro…..E pehea ana koe? Hehehe…..yes, don’t think Woodcock needs to take up yoga in preparation for this weekends game.
1 Oct 2012, 05:04 am
@Te Rangatira-220: all good here bro, yourself?
he had a poor game in Dunedin, but the whole pack werent playing as a unit then… still think he has something to offer ( might be my Auckland bias
) the tight five were so much better versus the Argies, and I think they bring the same level of physicality that the boks do…
if they can bring the short passing game one or two off the ruck, I think that will go a long way to beating the boks…
1 Oct 2012, 07:56 am
@Te Rangatira-217:
the point being that you don’t pick an ‘agile’ prop vs Arg in Arg or vs SA in SA or Eng in Eng or Fr in Fr if he can’t fkn scrum, 1st and foremost
Woodcock looked fairly agile carving thru the middle of the French lineout last Oct. Pick an agile loosehead like Crockett or B.Franks or McIntosh and watch your advan slowly erode away in the face of easy pen points. Woodcocks work rate is immense, hitting rucks etc. And, whilst scrum pens seem to be a lottery where no prop is safe (from an Aussie hoodwink, for e.g.), Woodcock wins more contests than most.
1 Oct 2012, 09:09 am
@222 agree with your comment about the need to select a good scrumming prop when up against those sides,and yes wouldn’t go with those others you mentioned,but let me say this,Woodcock needs to smash those Boks
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