Argentina grab their chance to stun New Zealand

■ By BEN JAYCOCK

New Zealand ………………..30pts

Tries: Darry 15, Lienert-Brown 35, Tele’a 52

Conversions: McKenzie 16, 36, 53

Penalties: McKenzie 12, 27, 47

Argentina ……………………. 38pts

Tries: Cinti 23, Carreras 38, Molina 43, Creevy 69

Conversions: Carreras 39, 44, 70

Penalties: Carreras 31, 50, 56, 79

AGUSTIN Creevy came off the bench and delivered a remarkable 15-minute cameo at the age of 39 to help deliver a gutsy Argentine win in Wellington over a toothless All Blacks.

Creevy, formerly of London Irish and Sale Sharks, became the oldest Test player of the 21st century and rolled back the years with a fine hooker display which was capped by scoring a vital try in the 69th minute to go alongside his textbook jackaling on the floor.

Argentina’s resilient defence, silky backline play and work at the breakdown allowed Felipe Contepomi’s new side their second-ever win in New Zealand, as well as their highest recorded points total against the All Blacks.

New Zealand were a shell of their previous selves, letting in the most points they had ever conceded on home soil and the shaky second half display will cause panic across the nation, with next week’s rematch now a definite must win.

The All Blacks’ Wellington nightmare continues as after a run of 16 victories in a row from 2004-16, they have now won just one of their last seven at the Cake Tin since 2017.

In front of a swathe of empty seats and only minutes after the Springboks blew past the Wallabies 33-7 in Brisbane, the All Blacks lacked cohesion and accuracy, after their series win over England and blowout victory over Fiji in San Diego recently.

A comedy of handling errors, lineout miscommunication and poor discipline is not what the All Blacks do in the final quarter of Test matches. Yes, this was a new coaching staff in their fourth Test in charge under Scott Robertson – but inexperience cannot be used as an excuse. Experienced All Blacks and even centurions made fatal errors when they were needed most.

Damian McKenzie appeared to have scored New Zealand’s fourth try, profiting from trademark quick hands by the backline, but the TMO spotted a forward pass in the build up. The All Blacks were dominating territory and it looked as if it was a question of when not if they were going to add to their two-point lead at 30-28 with 15 minutes to go.

That was until a scrum on halfway was followed by two consecutive passes which were miles off target, with the legendary Beauden Barrett delivering a clanger that resulted in a helpless Rieko Ioane to ground the ball in his own dead ball area.

You would have to dig very deep into the archives to find an All Blacks side perform a run of such schoolboy errors.

Argentina showed no hesitation in capitalising on the golden opportunity their opponents had handed to them with a dominant 5m scrum followed by repeated pick and go’s which eventually resulted in a maximum score from Creevy and the game completely turning on its head.

The ‘final 10′ became so synonymous with the All Blacks that their YouTube channel created a playlist of famous comebacks, but the errors yesterday just continued.

With a lineout won just inside the opposing half it looked as if Argentina’s dreams were set to be dashed with a trademark All Black coup de grace. However New Zealand were second best at the breakdown with Creevy and co earning crucial turnovers, and while they were offered a second chance with a lineout on halfway, the All Black forwards were on completely different wavelengths with no one even jumping to contest a ball that Argentina swooped up. It was all very strange but Argentina won’t care one bit.

England took heart from their narrow defeats to the All Blacks down under last month but yesterday Argentina showed Steve Borthwick‘s men how to get the job done.

The Pumas’ ferocious line speed from the off showed they weren’t just here to make the numbers up in front of an underwhelming turnout of 28,011 at Sky Stadium.

Despite Argentina’s fast start it was the home side that raced into a 10-0 lead after McKenzie’s early penalty and a clever kick in behind by Beauden Barrett set up a dream debut try for second row Sam Darry.

A beautifully timed ball by Pablo Matera allowed the electric Santiago Chocobares to run through the middle and put his centre partner Lucio Cinti in to score.

Anton Lienert-Brown started his first Test since New Zealand’s win over Uruguay in the World Cup pool stages and the Waikato Chiefs outside-centre dotted down before half time.

But moments later, McKenzie put up a bomb that was tapped back by Sevu Reece and the ball fell to the man New Zealand would least like it to fall to – former Newcastle speedster Matteo Carreras, who showed his deadly step turning McKenzie inside out for a great try.

New Zealand went into half time up by five points but what ensued next resulted in just the third time they had lost at home after leading at the interval.

Argentina started the second half on top and lock Franco Molina got over from a well executed driving maul with Santiago Carreras’ touchline conversion putting the visitors ahead.

McKenzie and Gloucester fly-half Santiago Carreras traded penalties before All Blacks flyer Mark Telea went under the sticks. Santiago Carreras hit back with a penalty to make it a tense two-point contest before Creevy burrowed over the line to overturn the deficit.

Wallace Sititi gave away a foolish kickable penalty by slowing down Pumas ball and Santiago Carreras punished New Zealand to ensure a memorable night for Argentina rugby, while also causing major headaches for new head coach Robertson ahead of their Eden Park showdown.

They say the All Blacks should be most feared after a defeat, we shall see if this current crop are worthy of that mantra.