How did it all come to this? In beautiful conditions in Santa Fe, the Wallabies played their best 30 minutes under Joe Schmidt; inventive, urgent, cohesive, and fully deserving of a 20-3 lead.
Forty minutes – or one half of rugby later – the Wallabies trailed by 41-20, shipping a point-a-minute. Scarcely believable; that is until you take into account another four tries added in the final ten minutes, blowing the final score out to 67-27, an all-time record defeat.
After last week’s rain this was a day made for running and ball movement. And, having lost control of the tempo of the match just before half-time, unable to slow the Pumas’ transition and ball transfer down, it was the Wallabies who came off second, third and fourth best.
What was working in the opening half-hour – the scrum, direct and powerful carries, clever working of the ball into space – all went out on the Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou tide. As a result, the drop-off in pressure applied to the Pumas’ forwards became an open invitation for their power runners to impose themselves on the game.
Taniela Tupou of Australia evades a tackle by Julian Montoya of Argentina during the Rugby Championship 2024 match between Argentina and Australia at Brigadier General Estanislao Lopez Stadium on September 7, 2024 in Santa Fe, Argentina. (Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)
Before anyone gets too down on the Wallabies, let’s celebrate how well the Pumas expressed themselves. It is on days like this where one realises that far too much exposure and weight is given to people decrying the way modern rugby is played.
Rugby can and should do a far better job of drowning out that kind of negativity by highlighting just how the game can – and often is – being played on the world stage. With power, pace and precision. The ball confidently and deftly being shifted into space, and support players working hard to be part of the action.
Nothing ridiculously fancy in its conception; just simple elements, beautifully executed.
Inevitably when there are blowout matches, the losers are accused of being unfit and/or throwing in the towel. In this case, what looked like a case of unwilling, leaden feet was actually just a little too much space being given to the attack quickly multiplying into multiple spot fires; too many for the Wallabies’ defence to stamp out.
It’s not trite or clutching at straws to say that the Wallabies have positives to take forward from this short tour. The composed manner in which they closed the match out in La Plata, and the dominant opening in this match are signs of real progress being made by Joe Schmidt’s still-new side.
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Fans can reasonably expect to see more cohesive attacking play for longer periods as Schmidt’s selection becomes more settled. But when an opponent generates momentum and confidence, as was the case here, there needs to be more on-field leaders and hard-heads step forward with the ability, through an inspirational steal or tackle, or to ‘ugly the game up’, to hit the reset button.
If the Wallabies don’t find a way to do this, another tough fortnight looms. Yes, the All Blacks have struggled to impose themselves on South Africa in recent times, but they aren’t going as badly as some people think they might be, and remain capable of cutting loose in the manner that Argentina did here.
(Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)
The fourth successive win for the Boks over their great rival followed a similar pattern to what had happened a week earlier; the All Blacks finding an early lead, but not a way to impose themselves on the match, before being choked out of the contest in the final stages.
Also carried forward was a discernible timidity – or perhaps lack of belief against this opposition – to go for the jugular when the opportunity presented itself.
Twice the Boks were reduced to 14-man – once in each half – and both times the immediate response from the All Blacks was to kick for goal, rather than press home the numerical advantage in the red zone.
Yes, this is Test rugby, and points accumulation is always important. But one of those kicks was missed, and with try-scoring such a difficult proposition against this 15-man South African side, better opportunities weren’t going to appear on a whim.
In any event, the first period of numerical advantage came to a quick and sudden end when Sevu Reece – as he has been prone to do at other times in his career – carelessly clattered into an airborne Willie le Roux.
This dumb act underlined another poor night all-round for the All Blacks’ back three; Mark Telea error-prone and Will Jordan not yet able on his return to stamp any authority.
Purists will point to the number of errors made by both sides and, while this wasn’t one of the all-time classic matches, the overall intensity and the pressure applied to every single play was a clearly evident, and fed into the error rate.
That’s not unrelated to what has revealed itself to be the pivotal difference between these two sides; the ability to win the key, small moments at vital times in the match.
When the All Blacks eventually did kick for touch from a penalty, a loose transfer at the front of the lineout saw the opportunity squandered. When the Boks kicked to the corner, they came up with two tries, to Eben Etzebeth and Malcom Marx.
In the 71st minute, Damian McKenzie was kicking for goal, from 37 metres out, directly in front, to give the All Blacks a 15-13 lead. Within two awful minutes, the shot had missed, Beauden Barrett had been charged down, Tyrel Lomax was sent to the sin bin for a needless body check, and TJ Perenara sticking his head into a defensive maul had shown Marx the way to the try line.
The Springboks are far from perfect, but compared to their three Rugby Championship rivals, they have far greater consistency in their performance levels, and a huge amount of trust and self-belief in the ability to ride out the tough moments and deliver points when needed.
That’s something New Zealand audiences will get an opportunity to see much more of, following last week’s announcement by the South African Rugby Union and New Zealand Rugby that they will step out of the Rugby Championship so as to resume four-Test tours in 2026 and 2030. With World Rugby’s Nations Championship set to roll out from 2026 and the focus squarely on the Rugby World Cup in 2027 and 2031, it’s plain to see how Australia’s rugby woes are not limited to the shellacking at the hands of the Pumas.
In an attempt not to scare the horses, Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh responded by pointing to the imminent scheduling of an Anzac Day Test match as a counter-balance.
Pull the other one. The idea of an annual Anzac Day Test between the All Blacks and Wallabies has obvious appeal. But in their desperate search to scrounge every last cent, NZ Rugby and Rugby Australia have taken yet another opportunity to remind everyone that they neither value Super Rugby nor do they have any idea how to build and sustain a competition that connects to fans.
A drawn-out search for a CEO for Super Rugby’s belated commission has delivered Sydney-based Jack Mesley. Charged with what he said at the time of his appointment was “growing Super Rugby Pacific and putting fans at the centre” and “igniting the flame for generations to come”, would Mesley have countenanced the way to do that would be the removal of the cream of the competition’s players, for a match that will override and diminish his fixtures?
I’d wager not. But if this strengthens the argument for putting Super Rugby to rest, who is any the wiser as to what the alternative strategy is? Surely, dying a slow, painful death is no strategy at all?
Throughout its short existence professional rugby has been engaged in a battle for primacy between club and country. Witness the spending power of French and, to a lesser extent, Japanese clubs impinging on Test rugby, either compelling or influencing some of the worlds’ best players to make themselves unavailable for their nations.
Who needs the French and Japanese clubs? This Anzac Day fixture is an example of two national unions coming to their own realisation that the only currency capable of being leveraged into something more substantial is their Test sides.
The week’s events also provide further proof – as if any is needed – of how the SANZAAR union is little more than a sham. At the end of 2020, South Africa extricated itself from Super Rugby. Now, the south’s two most powerful unions have decided they can do better on their own, keeping a token foot in for appearances sake.
Waugh’s hastily scrambled, Lance Corporal Jones-style ‘don’t panic, we have this under control’ statement should have fooled no-one.
Here were echoes of cricket’s ’big three’ – India, England and Australia – extending the middle finger, and other nations pretending to be happy with the crumbs.
Yes, Australia will cobble together matches in the years that the Rugby Championship will now not be played, but isn’t this what used to happen anyway?
As for Argentina, it seems each time they establish a foothold in rugby’s upper echelon, the goalposts get shifted on them. The Pumas may have won a resounding victory yesterday, but the real battle between Argentina and Australia is over which is a rugby peasant and which a rugby pauper.
Rugby Australia only has itself to blame. It is as culpable as the other SANZAAR nations of not doing enough to ensure the Rugby Championship was set up to at least begin to mirror the glittering success of the Six Nations.
There is a concept used in policy and advocacy called the ‘Overton Window’, which essentially captures the moment when stars align, enabling change to occur more easily than what was previously thought possible. For a historical example, think the Port Arthur Massacre and John Howard’s gun control laws.
The key is leaders recognising the window and moving. Immediately following Japan’s success at the 2019 World Cup was the time for decisive action. Now that the moment has passed, and the Nations Cup is filling some of that space, this is more than ‘bad luck’ for Japan and Fiji. It also reinforces Australia’s lowly position.
Given the SANZAAR nations’ inability to make decisions for their collective good, it’s now become ‘every man for himself’. New Zealand’s administrators have been forced into action by their PE backer, Silver Lake, demanding something be done to ensure a return on their investment.
This begs the question, that if Australia had been able to close a similar deal with Silver Lake, would it now be left so exposed?
Perhaps there is a chance Rugby Australia may yet salvage something of worth from the jaws of defeat. Anything is possible, and to be fair to Waugh, he has said repeatedly that there is a plan.
Just remember that on May 30th, when it was announced that the Melbourne Rebels were being terminated, Waugh also said that Rugby Australia had a plan for Victorian rugby pathways. If such a plan actually exists it’s yet to see the light of day.
Let’s hope it consists of something more than substantial than Rugby Australia reportedly asking the Victorian state government last week for $1.5m to ensure participation of the Rebels Women in Super W next year.
Yesterday, Argentina showed the beautiful side of rugby. Off the field however, rugby today has become less beautiful and more a case of ‘money talks, bullshit walks’.
Geoff Parkeshttps://https://ift.tt/gURMTqQ Wrap: Pumas blitz caps awful week for Australian rugby – but progress under Schmidt is plain to see
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