Two tries: Julian Savea
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New Zealand clinched the inaugural Rugby Championship title with a round to spare on Saturday with a 54-15 win over Argentina in La Plata.
The All Blacks produced their best performance of the year to demolish los Pumas, scoring seven tries including a hat-trick for Cory Jane and two for his fellow wing Julian Savea.
Centre Ma'a Nonu and scrum-half Aaron Smith also got their names on the scorecard to complete the rout.
The result sees the All Blacks extend their winning streak to 15 games ahead of next weekend's showdown with the Springboks in Johannesburg.
The world champions were given a scare early on as the hosts started in the best possible fashion by taking a 5-0 lead thanks to a wonderful try from scrum-half Martin Landajo.
But it didn't take long for New Zealand to strike back and once the visitors had found their rhythm, it was one-way traffic for the rest of the game and the men in black raced to a 32-8 lead by half-time.
Argentina were not allowed to get away with their customary spoiling tactics at the breakdown by referee Jaco Peyper, and with quick ball at their disposal, the All Black backs were at their devastating best.
The hosts tried to adopt a much more open style than we've seen in the past but while they produced two very good tries, they were unable to match the Kiwis at what they do best - moving the ball into space at pace.
The locals were looking good after Landajo's opening score from a well-worked first-phase backline move that saw full-back Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino burst through on halfway.
But the Argentine defence was nowhere to be seen when Nonu escaped from the fringe of a ruck to put Smith over in the 17th minute.
A few minutes later Read strolled through to set up Jane in the corner, Savea chased down his own chip ahead for his first try and then bagged another on the stroke of half-time.
Although Gonzalo Camacho shrugged off Andrew Hore to score after the interval, the All Blacks killed the game off as Savea manhandled two defenders to set up Jane's second.
Dan Carter kicked five from seven before being taken off along with Richie McCaw on the hour mark. But it didn't stop the points from flowing as replacement Aaron Cruden broke the line with his first touch and set up Nonu for an easy try.
Jane clinched his hat-trick with a 50m intercept with the last play of the game.
Man of the Match It's hard not to give the gong to one of the backs since they scored all the points. Richie McCaw deserves a mention but Kieran Read was phenomenal and had a direct hand in creating at least two of the tries for the flash boys out wide.
Moment of the match: There were a number of excellent tries - with Landajo's score a highlight - but Cory Jane's first try, thanks to a brilliant offload from Read, was out of the top drawer. It put the All Blacks 10 points up and they never looked back.
Villian of the match: No bad guys to be seen.
The scorers:
For Argentina:
Tries: Landajo, Camacho
Con: Hernandez
Pens: Hernandez
For New Zealand:
Tries: A. Smith, Jane 3, Savea 2, Nonu
Cons: Carter 3, Cruden 2
Pens: Carter 2, Cruden
Argentina: 15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (c), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Tomas Vallejos, 19 Tomas Leonardi, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Martin Rodriguez, 22 Juan Imhoff.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Charlie Faumuina, 18 Brodie Retallick, 19 Sam Cane, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Ben Smith.
Venue: Estadio Único Ciudad de La Plata
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Pascal Gauzere (France)
Television match official: Francisco Pastrana
Comments
Ramage says...
@trinuts great to see Kiwi Harris showing the rest of the Aussies how to score tries. How is Cancerous Cooper getting on he's certainly got impeccable timing to bring out his diatribe. Right before his mates run out to take on the Boks. Who needs enemies when you have Cooper lol.
Posted 07:46 30th September 2012
Trader2 says...
How good was that. No not the game, just that we Oz residents did not have to listen to those Fox nitwits and have out bacon and eggs spoilt.
Oh the game, yes great to see the AB's click as we knew they should, did Stu Foster do that in just a week, hmmm jury still out, but pretty impressive. As for the Argies well nice to see them chuck it around a bit, they have some talent out wide they just need a bit of practice. The problem for the Pumas is that most of their squad play in the NH (you know the Saffa and Kiwi retirement home) and it showed they were all out of puff by the 60th min. Some of their players need to join the S15 sides, the Aussies are looking for about 44 or thereabouts so they can field 5 sides next year.
Posted 07:36 30th September 2012
whizz52 says...
Wrong Franks Trinuts... Owen was born in NZ!
Posted 07:08 30th September 2012
StunTheMullet says...
@ TVAddict - What was refreshing was that we got some rugby for a change through having a referee who played advantage (both ways) rather than blow the pea out the whistle all game.
Posted 06:54 30th September 2012
Ramage says...
@TV addict I have never enjoyed a post as much as yours and my mirth caused me to fall off the chair as the funny nature of your post hit me. It caused the tears to roll down my eyes such was the humour of your post and whats more I think you actually believe what you are saying.
I take your point with all the excuses about your post before you make your actual point. What I found so funny was this statement, "........I'm a neutral in (this?) matter. after my mirth and picking myself off the floor I thought to myself, hey this guy actually believes he is. So TVaddict do you actually re read your posts either before or after you post them? If not reread the ones you have made. A neutral you are not. Maybe as far as Nationality, yes I can accept that. However your many posts are usually quite derogatory about NZ and All Black rugby like your current one. Whilst saying you think they deserved to win you have to then bring in an old worn out cliche that the referee favoured the Blacks so therefore their win despite playing some very good rugby had to be suspect In all your posts that I have read on this site, you can not claim to be a neutral. In fact you come across as someone who so dislikes the Blacks that some reason needs to be invented to detract from any good wins. Sorry to say TV addict that this post continues the trend of other posts which does make you look like a moaning idiot (your words).
Posted 06:20 30th September 2012
new_j4a says...
@TVaddict, the problem may be your understanding of the Law...please explain your understanding of a forward pass.....is it relative to the field? If two players are running one behind the other and the front player throws the ball up into the air, drifting forward relative to the ground, and the player behind catches the ball 5 meters ahead of where it is thrown up into the air, is this a forward pass? Your answer to this will help us to determine whether your problem is your lack of understanding of the Laws or just that you are sitting on your couch at home with a bad angle on the play.
Posted 06:01 30th September 2012
Ramage says...
At long last the Blacks ran the right lines, ran onto the ball passed better and caught their passes and were rewarded with the tries that eventuated. I suppose even the muddling Foster influence has to wane when those with class sort out all his mixed messages lol. A good win and Congratulations to the Blacks for winning the inaugural Rugby Competition. Now onto the Bok game which I hope will be of a similar high standard. it remains to be seen whether the referee Rolland will allow play to continue to the same extent as Peyper who as a newly appointed test referee had a very good game.
@PREEST yes I did In the first half especially before the Blacks started to exert their power I saw enough to say the Pumas are on their way. I have been impressed with the Pumas forward play but their backs have been a wee bit disappointing.Tonight though I saw some excellent play and now the Pumas need to continue to develop this part of their play learn how to maintain it put into place the defence strategies when you play this high risk game and overall raise their level of ball skills and fitness levels.
Posted 05:56 30th September 2012
2EyedKiwi says...
@tvaddict, clearly I'm not a neutral, but I reckon the calls were even. On any other given day the Argies could have a lost a player for 10mins for repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly playing the ball with their hands in the ruck. Also, the amount of times Roncero and his mates came in to the ruck from the side and got away with it was impressive. I know he's old and slow, but that was taking it too far...
@hayj05 - completely agree about the crowd - they were awesome in supporting their team throughout the game, and the standing ovation at the end was true class.
Posted 05:55 30th September 2012
paulynz says...
Now that the inaugural RC is won the ABs will set their sights on the most consecutive rugby test matches won, which is 18, currently held by Lithuania. All going well the ABs will hope to take that record against Italy in November.
The biggest stumbling block will of course be against South Africa next weekend. The Boks will be riding high after their game against Australia so should be a monumental game. So looking forward to it...
Thought the standing ovation given to the teams by the Argentinian crowd was very classy...
Posted 05:47 30th September 2012
piriaka says...
First decent game the All Blacks have played all tournament. Well done.
Posted 05:17 30th September 2012
jonesrp says...
great result from the Ab`s...but the Pumas are scoring tries...good on them,they`ve arrived.
Posted 05:14 30th September 2012
shano303 says...
As an AB's fan it was good to see the boys kick into gear. Some calls did go the way of the AB's here though. Unfortunately, all of three points shouldn't have been scored.
On another note, as all teams are now doing this and getting pinged, how are teams supposed to stay on their feet when all resistance disappears beyond the ruck? If there is no one to pick up the ball - this happened and Nonu got pinged - how can it be sealing off? SA, Los Pumas and the AB's are attempting to do this and getting pinged. Are the refs/laws not moving with the times? Interested to hear peoples thoughts.
Posted 04:25 30th September 2012
cuw3100 says...
@bk47: "Carter = Freak"
ditto mate, just be happy u r alive and saw him play. some players come along once in a lifetime; like Jonah Lomu. So many teams have brought in giant wings and full backs and centers but there is only one Jonah. Likewise DC surpasses some of the greatest fly halves like Andrew Mertehns, Jonny Wilkinson, Michael Lynah,.... of our times. and despite all the rough and tumbles, he is still a pretty boy LOL :)
Posted 04:22 30th September 2012
Oceansnz says...
Moaning about the referee is too common on these threads. Its pointless and no one here benefits. Please stop.
So, lets talk about some of the actual sections of the game i.e.
(A) Argentina's defense and pressure in the opening 20 mins was great, but as we see with all passionate teams, they drop their game if they are scored against.
(B) Great tempo and varied options by the All Blacks. The Argies couldn't defend against them or keep up!
Posted 04:22 30th September 2012
Mace says...
So proud of yous boys!!! Was an awesome game to watch. Its not over yet though we want that world record now of most TEST WINS IN A ROW!!!!! Keep the foot on the pedal! Richie McCaw to win the IRB Player of The Year me thinks!!! Good to have ya back too DC... ALL BLACKS FOREVER!!!!!
Posted 04:03 30th September 2012
Ferdie says...
MacTavish - wouldn't get carried away EVER! Considering that was only the third time in the post-95 professional era that NZ has played in Argentina, and 7th time EVER . . . not quite in the same league as an historic win over one of the more traditional opponents.
Posted 03:39 30th September 2012
Missionary says...
Love to read some comments by that idiot Stephen Jones who rates Hernandez as better than Carter. He got dusted by Carter then toasted by Cruden. Not in the same century.
I
10 minutes into the game and the Black's were looking very ragged. Didn't think Read was MOTM. MCcaw was outstanding again and Nonu played very well. Thought the best player on the park was either Whitelock or the Argentine halfback.
Posted 03:28 30th September 2012
JayStarr says...
Now that was a rugby lesson. Well done All Blacks. Disappointing Argentina - you seemed strangely complacent. Your defense was not as aggressive as in previous weeks, which gave the All Blacks a little bit more time and space... and trust me, that is all they need to do what they did.
I couldn't believe Argentina went for a drop kick in the first half (nevermind the first 10 minutes!) and then took a penalty kick at the posts when they were 17-5 down... That was very naive. That is what you do in the NH - not what you do when you are trying to beat the All Blacks. They learned that lesson today.
Good luck for next week Argentina - if you pull yourself together you can win that one. As for the All Blacks - good luck in Soweto! Make sure you have a good bench ;)
Posted 03:12 30th September 2012
jmanngod says...
I said all along that once a proper SH ref attended to the breakdown the ABs would run riot. The IRB must get the NH refs up to scratch around the breakdown! Well done ABs this team is light years ahead, still, of any other team in world rugby. Arguably already the most dominant team in the sports history... how much longer will they rein?
Posted 03:08 30th September 2012
hayj05 says...
Two things made it a very different game from the first test between these two.
The Pumas played loose running Rugby which played into the AB's hands. I'm not saying the don't have the talent to play that type of game, they looked very dangerous at times but you could see that the cohesion just wasn't there, especially when they tried to play multiple phases & it's understandable as they just haven't been playing that type of Rugby. The AB's fed off their mistakes.
The other thing was the AB's variation in attack. The Pumas like to drift, I was at the game in Wellington & it was very evident that the AB's were going sideways & just pushing the ball on way too often. This time they ran beautiful straight lines & decoys, played through the midfield, varied up their kicks & set moves, & dragged players in before going wide when they were playing phases. It was a very strong tactical display of attacking Rugby.
Posted 02:56 30th September 2012