The 2023 edition of the Rugby Championship continued in Mendoza as Los Pumas hosted the All Blacks. Damian McKenzie was the shock selection at 10 for his first Test appearance since November 2021, with Beauden Barrett at 15 and Richie Mo’unga on the bench, and his first touch of the ball could not have gone worse as his kick was charged down on the try line by Pablo Matera, with the fly half only just beating Matera and Matías Moroni to dotting down the loose ball. The early defence from the Pumas was suffocating, but a show-and-go from Rieko Ioane broke through the line and brought the All Blacks deep into the Argentina half, while quick recycling allowed Dan Coles to force his way through a defence that wasn’t fully set for the opening try, McKenzie missing what should have been a simple conversion. A break from exciting young wing Emoni Narawa on the next attack allowed New Zealand to kick a penalty up to the Pumas’ line, and the pressure soon saw Ardie Savea force his way over with a pick and go. Argentina desperately needed some time with ball in hand to reset, but instead tried to beat Caleb Clarke with a cross-kick, and when Beauden Barrett came forward to claimit, the All Blacks quickly broke down the same wing to send Jordie Barrett over for their third try in just over 10 minutes, McKenzie finally getting his angles right with the conversion. A penalty for a tackle off the ball allowed Argentina to kick into the visitors’ 22 for their first territory of the game after 20 minutes, but they were let down by their handling as both Rodrigo Bruni and Tomás Lavanini fumbled the same pass with the line at their mercy, and the All Blacks front row forced a penalty at the scrum to let them clear their lines. Bruni’s carrying was bringing the hosts back into the game, though once again a promising attack came to nothing as Mateo Carreras was forced into touch just short of the line as Argentina forced things too early. And the All Blacks soon punished these missed chances as a penalty brought them to 5m out, where they kept the pressure on until a missed tackle allowed Ioane to go over for the All Blacks’ fourth try on the half hour. And they made it 5 right before the break as Aaron Smith dummied over and used referee Angus Gardner as a blocker to snipe over at the side of a maul, while an offence at said maul also saw Bruni sent to the bin for his team’s persistent offending, leaving a shell-shocked Argentina going into the break down 0-31.
The second half saw a more positive start from the hosts as they saw out the sin bin period, and after strong runs by Thomas Gallo and Bruni brought them up to the All Blacks’ try line, Lucio Sordoni (whose day until that point had been simply getting dominated in the scrums) managed to reach out following a pick and go to get his team on the board. However after their next attack from deep in their own half was ended by a knock on, the All Blacks finally managed to see McKenzie do something good in the game as he wrapped around and attacked the 13 channel to send Beauden Barrett over for the try. The second half continued to be a much more even affair as the substitutes brought a better balance to the game, but with 5 minutes remaining, the visitors were able to create the space to send Emoni Narawa over for a try on his debut. But the Pumas found time to give the home fans something to cheer about with a driving maul on the final play, Agustín Creevy peeling off and reaching out for the line to dot down for a final score of 12-41.
Basics first
Argentina may be one of the most infuriating teams in the world. They have the quality to beat the best in the world one week, and then a week later they will look like a bunch of amateurs and get absolutely hammered.
Today, they were dominated. Defensively they had no answer for the All Blacks, they were manhandled at the scrum, and in attack, bar a few moments of lucidity, they looked panicked, kicking when they desperately just needed some possession to work their way into the game and trying to throw miracle passes to their wingers 5m from the try line when going through the hands may have worked the space to put him over.
And to me, the reason is clear: Santiago Carreras is a world class player and a dangerous playmaker… but not a fist choice 10 at Test level. He is being forced to learn the role on the job both for a Gloucester team that was often going backwards and a Pumas team that often faced stronger opposition. His natural skills allow him to create chances and run a basic attack, but that is not enough at this level, and the Pumas would benefit far more from playing him at 15 where he can use his skills as a second playmaker wider out or in broken play, while relying on a more experienced specialist 10 to run the game.
Not the man
Shout out to Sam Cane for the rare achievement in recent years of not being the worst All Black on the pitch. That accolade fell firmly on the shoulders of his fellow Chief Damian McKenzie today.
Much like his opposite number Carreras, he is an immensely talented player with the skills to play at 10, but is much more effective at 15, from where he can pick his moments and generally have more space from which to attack.
That the All Blacks played so well in the first half was a shock, and that they did it despite the play of their fly half was even more impressive. Almost every time McKenzie got the ball and didn’t just immediately play it on, he ended up running around behind his forwards like a headless chicken as he looked for space that wasn’t there. It’s no surprise that his only real impressive moment before he was moved to fullback was a set play off a scrum that saw him wrap around to attack the 13 channel… exactly where you would expect to see a fullback attacking.
People who regularly read his sie will know my feelings about Beauden Barrett’s best position. So when I say that if I was picking both him and McKenzie in the same team, I would would not hesitate to pick Barrett at 10, shows exactly what I think about McKenzie’s suitability for the position at this level.
Now the big question: is there a spot for D-Mac in the World Cup squad? Beauden Barrett and Will Jordan feel like the incumbents at 15, and with Jordie Barrett also able to cover the position, will he find himself surplus to requirements?
Eyes on the Ball 