Argentina player ratings: Pablo Matera and Thomas Gallo impress in loss to New Zealand

Following their 53-3 defeat to New Zealand in their Rugby Championship Test at FMG Stadium in Hamilton on Saturday, here’s the player ratings for Argentina.

15 Juan Cruz Mallia: Very little went right for Argentina and although Mallia made some carries from the back, he made little headway. 5

14 Emiliano Boffelli: The Pumas‘ goalkicking hero from Christchurch didn’t have many chances to repeat that performance as they were on the back foot throughout. 6

13 Matias Moroni: Caught the eye with some strong attacking runs but that didn’t trouble the All Blacks‘ defence too much. 6

12 Matias Orlando: Like Moroni, he too had little effect on attack although he put in some solid defensive hits. 6

11 Santiago Cordero: Came into the run-on side for his attacking ability but didn’t make an impact in that department and also struggled on defence. 5

10 Santiago Carreras: Had a quiet game and left the field at half-time due to a leg injury. 5

9 Tomas Cubelli: The veteran scrum-half returned to the starting line-up but didn’t have much influence on the game. 5

8 Pablo Matera: Took the fight to the All Blacks with some strong carries but was kept in check throughout. Also impressed on defence. 7

Strong defensive effort not good enough

7 Marcos Kremer: Like last weekend, he led the way on defence again although this time it didn’t have the desired effect. 6

6 Santiago Grondona: Came into the starting line-up but, like most of his team-mates, he was restricted mostly to defensive duties. 5

5 Tomas Lavanini: Despite a solid defensive effort, Lavanini’s performance was marred by poor discipline which resulted in him being yellow carded. 5

4 Guido Petti: Another one who came into the run-on side without making an impact on attack, although he put his body on the line on defence. 5

3 Joel Sclavi: Was on the back foot at the scrums and replaced early in the second half. 4

2 Julian Montoya (c): The Pumas captain had a quiet game by his standards. Like the rest of his team-mates, he made plenty of tackles but nothing else to report. 6

1 Thomas Gallo: Despite struggling in the scrums, he caught the eye with some strong attacking runs, especially in the first half, and did well on defence. 7

Replacements: Overall, an underwhelming performance from the Pumas substitutes. Replacement fly-half Benjamin Urdapilleta came on and showed some nice touches but nothing which troubled the All Blacks. 5

READ MORE: New Zealand player ratings: Sam Cane and Rieko Ioane lead the way in triumph over Argentina