Well that certainly didn’t go to plan. Argentina coming away with a close win after outmuscling and out passioning New Zealand where it mattered. This game demonstrated once again that the difference between the top few teams in the world isn’t that great, and that any of these teams can win if things go their way on the field on the day.
Congratulations to Argentina, they absolutely deserved the win and can take a lot out of the match. They outscored NZ in both tries and penalties and while the game was pretty even for the most part, they won the scrum battle (what few there were) and the post contact metres. While I’m not a fan of a lot of the stats recorded in a rugby match, post contact metres is one that tells a story and Argentina were on top with this.
New Zealand really need to rethink a few things as some of the frailties that weren’t exploited by England have come to the fore, and unless these are dealt with Razor isn’t going to enjoy his first season in charge of the All Blacks. While I don’t believe there’s a need to panic – yet, the selectors certainly need to take on the ruthless decision making that was prevalent with both Henry and Hansen, but which disappeared under Foster and seems to be continuing with Razor. The ABs need to have the best players on the field in each position, there’s no room for favouritism or giving players a chance.
The Match
Argentina started the game with a hiss and a roar dominating possession and being unlucky to not have any points on the board for the first 15 minutes. Their attack was varied and penetrating, and the support play was excellent. New Zealand’s defence wasn’t dominating and they only really stayed in the match with the Argentina’s lack of discipline giving away the first six penalties. While New Zealand got out to a 10 point lead, the first try was more lucky than planned. Two more tries along with a penalty and a conversion in the first half to New Zealand with Argentina responding with two tries and a penalty and a conversion. 20 – 15 at the break.
Argentina stormed out after half time scoring first and taking the lead. NZ came back with a penalty to retake the lead, Argentina did the same and then Tele’a scored a great try under the posts which was converted. Argentina then came back with two penalties and a converted try to take the game 30 to 38. As you would think with a game this close the play was pretty even with statistics like turnovers, penalties, line breaks etc being very close. Neither team really dominated the other that much, but Argentina took the opportunities better and made the plays that counted.
The Game Changer
This is an interesting one. While most people would say the scores by Argentina before and after half time might have been the game changer, I’m not so sure they were the problem. For me the game changer came down to both the selections in the NZ team and the timing of the replacements. At 43 minutes the score was 22 – 20 to Argentina and there was plenty of time left for New Zealand to come back. However, the issues that had caused them problems in the first half and the lack of changes to the team allowed these to continue. By the time the replacements came on there wasn’t enough time left for them to have an impact. Now I know there’s a risk of players coming on too early and having an injury, but leaving it too late so they haven’t got time to make a difference is, I think, more of a risk.
Conclusion
The All Blacks looked like a team that didn’t really understand what it was trying to achieve. It looks to me like the coaching team have implemented a new plan variation, and the players don’t seem to understand this completely and what their role is in it. The defence was very disorganised with players seeming unsure if they should advance and tackle the ball carrier or wait and cover the play. In attack the players didn’t seem to know what their role was and who was going to take the ball and when. This led to multiple breakdowns that players had to fight to rectify and this then made the plan harder to follow and play.
New Zealand has got a lot of work to do and I think the coaching team need to step back and take a really dispassionate look at the players. There are a lot of players who I think are displaying the attributes they’ve done in the past and been dropped for, but not being held accountable for them now. I think the ABs have problems at lock, 6, 7, 9 and 10. I also think some of the issues we had outside 10 were due to the problems at 9 and 10 more than those from 11 to 15.
For me, Vaa’i was pretty ineffective and unseen for most of the game, Blackadder doesn’t seem to have the impact in either attack or defence that 6 needs and Papali’i was almost invisible for most of the game. All of them had the odd good moment, but there was no continuity and the cohesion between the players in both attack and defence seemed to be missing.
While I love DMac’s ability to do some special things, he has demonstrated before that he struggles at 10 at this level and this match showed that again. His greatest skill is the vision he has to see things happening from the back and then moving into a position to take advantage of that. At 10 at this level he doesn’t seem to have the time he needs to make the decisions that are needed. I also think he tries to do something special too often and while these are great when they come off, on Saturday too often they didn’t and this allowed Argentina back into the game. For me he’s a much better 15 than a 10 and, sorry, but at 15 we have at least two players who are better.
To be fair it’s not all his fault and it took 13 minutes for him to receive a pass from Perenara. It was also another 14 minutes before Jordie received a pass that had come from the 9. Perenara’s kicking was well below average and his delivery was slow and telegraphed and this allowed the defence to get set and disrupt our attack. While a rush defence seems impressive, a fast accurate delivery from the 9 to players running hard before the defence can get back and reset is an easy way to break it up. On Saturday the delivery was too slow and too inaccurate.
Not all is lost and I’m sure the team will come back next week with a plan in place to rectify those issues and provide the win New Zealand needs. However, I think that it’s important for the selectors to start being ruthless again and if players aren’t meeting the standard they demand then they need to be moved on. It’s harsh, but it’s been part of why we have been so successful in the past and we need to bring it back. I’m expecting quite a few changes next week and with that a more cohesive and focussed team who’ll get the game back.
