Argentina v Samoa: Five takeaways from the Rugby World Cup clash as Pumas physicality too much for disappointing Samoans

Following a scrappy 19-10 win for Argentina over Samoa in Saint-Etienne on Friday, here’s our five takeaways from the Rugby World Cup clash.

The top line

It wasn’t pretty but it was mightily effective as Argentina ground out a convincing win to get their first points of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, ensuring they remain alive within Pool D. Saint-Etienne decided to open its heavens both before and during the match, making fast hands and rugby ambition the enemy of anyone who failed to respect the conditions.

It was a scrappy game, but one of brutal power with some of the biggest gain line hits seen so far at the Rugby World Cup, with Argentina flanker Marcos Kremer putting in a massive display of power carrying and brutal tackling, alongside their banker goal-kicker, the outstanding Emiliano Boffelli.

Argentina were the team who adapted best and with Christian Leali’ifano having a particularly poor day with the boot off tee and from hand, Samoa’s superstars in the back-row and back three failed to respond to the challenges of both the elements and Los Pumas, despite impressive defensive displays from both flanker Fritz Lee and hooker Seilala Lam.

Argentina may not have been at their best but they were a darn sight better than their performance against England a fortnight ago.

Argentinian beef

It took Los Pumas some time to work out a game plan to suit the soaking wet conditions but once they decided to keep hold of the ball with short direct passes and one-out carries, they started getting momentum on the front foot.

Earlier on, there was a tendency to overplay, force the miracle pass in tough handling conditions, but once Santiago Carreras stood a little deeper and started to get the massive power of the likes of Kremer and Pablo Matera crashing into the gain line, so Argentina prospered.

Kremer in particular was a huge force all afternoon with his 130kg frame causing havoc both in carry and also defence, where his hit on Samoan scrum-half Jonathan Taumateine threatened to rearrange the half-back’s entire body.

Argentina adapted to the conditions and the game ahead of them in this match, something they’ve been failing to do this season and Michael Cheika will be delighted in how his side reacted to the situation in front of them.

Biff Boff Bash

Boffelli is one of the most valuable players in the sport, a points machine with the best goal-kicking record between World Cups at some 91% completion, regularly taking on 60 metre kicks.

It was therefore only a matter of time before he came good at the 2023 Rugby World Cup and his 16-point tally with a wonderfully taken try in the first half was enough to see Argentina home and relatively dry, despite the torrential rain.

It wasn’t only his work with the boot and his finish that caught the eye. Both he and his back three cohorts Mateo Carreras and Juan Cruz Mallia chased and chased all day, making average kicks into great ones as their physicality in catch and chase caused havoc amongst the Samoan defensive ranks.

Samoa made 29 handling errors and 15 of those came in channel defence under pressure from the flying Argentine wings, and Boffelli was very much the intellect behind that effort.

🇦🇷 A try and a big hit from Emiliano Boffelli so far today. #ARGvSAM pic.twitter.com/1cNdeK9Hsj

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) September 22, 2023

Puma mauling

Part of the Argentinian adaptation was their use of the rolling maul, which Samoa struggled to defend. Considering the number of high quality Premiership forwards in the Samoan pack, you really would expect hardened players like Chris Vui, Theo McFarland, Steven Luatua and Fritz Lee to cope with an obvious weapon rather more convincingly. However, high body positions on a wet pitch is never going to make much of an impact and Julian Montoya and his forwards had a field day rolling and rumbling down the short channels.

When you have such faith in both your maul and your lineout, the touchline is yours and with Santiago Carreras really probing the aerial defence of the wings with deep intelligent kicks, Argentina both identified a way to trouble Samoa and then delivered it with excellence.

Looking forward

Argentina cannot lose a match in their run-in towards the knockout stages. They face Chile in a week’s time and Japan in a fortnight in a match that, if all goes to plan, may very well be a straight shoot out for qualification.

But the position is complicated by the fact Samoa also face the Brave Blossoms in seven days’ time and should they win that match they are still in the running if the bonus-point equation falls their way or if they manage to dispose of Pool D leaders England in two weeks’ time in Lille, something you’d argue would be unlikely on today’s showing.

The late rally from the Samoan forwards, led by McFarland, saw replacement hooker Sama Malolo crash over for a well deserved try and they’ll take that momentum into their next game, but it was all too little too late for the Pacific Islanders who really failed to live up to their billing in this match.

They will also rue giving up one final penalty that allowed Nicolas Sanchez to take them outside losing bonus-point territory, which may well be crucial when all is said and done at the end of the pool stages.

READ MORE: Argentina player ratings: Emiliano Boffelli steps up to keep Los Pumas in the Rugby World Cup