Once again, Pumas fail to back it up
ONE of the most question able truisms in rugby is that wet weather is a great leveller. Wrong. In 99.99 per cent of all wet weather games the better side wins. It's just that you remember the very occasional upset and attribute it to the weather because that will have been the other notable feature of the game.
Another truism, more recent in its origins, is that the Pumas never back up a famous win against one of the big nations with another victory. That statement is on much safer ground. And, as I am in the mood, I will throw in a third maxim for you to chew over, namely that New Zealand don't lose at Eden Park. That, for the last 30 years and 49 Tests, has also been true.
So what we had yesterday in Auckland was a wonderful mishmash of rugby lore and perceived wisdom. One wholly inaccurate but the other two bang on the money.
Firstly, the wet weather thing. Of course, the better team should always win in wet conditions because heavy rain and a slippery ball accentuate rather than diminish handling and kicking skills and they emphasise the basics of scrum, line-out, restart and organised defence. Good teams welcome wet weather.
For many years I worked with John Mason the rugby correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and when pressed John always insisted the finest performance he ever witnessed at Test level was at a soaking near flooded Wellington in 1996 when Sean Fitzpatrick's All Blacks routed Australia 43-6. Not a handling error all game, insisted John.
Yesterday the Kiwis made just one handling error in the first half when they tore Argentina apart limb by limb and that 40-minute masterclass of wet weather rugby was by far the most impressive period of Scott Robertson's short tenure as coach. The handling was crisp and uninhibited, in fact you wouldn't have known it was wet and treacherous, unless you had seen the Pumas fumbling helplessly in comparison.
Last week in Wellington we witnessed a game of no scrums, this week in Auckland the scrum was back and New Zealand dominated proceedings from the start. Only the lineout was really a competitive area. The result was five New Zealand tries and job done and even if I would like to have seen proper replays on two of them for what looked like forward passes – no chance with Kiwi producers in control of images. It was mighty impressive though. There was only one team good enough and talented enough to make light of the conditions.
Which brings us to Argentina's ability to back up big performances. It's a bad trait they need to somehow shed, and I am making allowances for the fact that in the Rugby Championship they are still generally an underdog team and that over the years draining intercontinental travel and logistics has been an issue, though not in this game.
They also stand accused of the trait in World Cups. Excellent – epic even – wins in three quarter-finals followed by damp squib performances in the semis.
Why is this? It's difficult to be sure but you sense with the Pumas that so much emotion and nervous energy is needed to get over the line against one of the big boys that often there is nothing left in the tank seven days later.
We had the same just two years ago when they claimed an historic win over New Zealand in Canterbury but a week later got hammered 51-3 at Hamilton. When if memory serves it was also a very wet night so a double whammy there.
I'm sure experienced campaigners like coach Felipe Contepomi and skipper Julian Montoya must have been aware of this trend and guarding against complacency all week but they singularly failed to get the Pumas in the right mental state to answer what was always going to be a fast start from New Zealand.
On the field I recall just one opportunity to get in the game when they were 14-3 down and turned down a very kickable penalty and opted for touch instead. Way too soon to be playing catch up. They needed to put their foot on the ball, regroup, take the three and start again. Probably clutching at straws but they needed to slow the juggernaut somehow.
Very easy from the sidelines. This was Eden Park remember, where the All Blacks ‘never' lose. Sides feel intimidated or feel they have to play outside their comfort zone and norm and do special stuff, a bit like England a few weeks ago when they had the winning of the game at New Zealand's citadel and blew a golden opportunity to make history.
