Ahead of their trip to Argentina in the Rugby Championship, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is gearing up for yet another significant hurdle, following consecutive losses to South Africa in their tournament’s early stages. In the initial two rounds, his rugby team faced defeat, with the latest being a 30-12 blow in Perth just a week after their campaign’s opening defeat. As the Wallabies set off to Argentina, Schmidt is fully aware of the complications about to ensue.
“This tournament won’t make things any lighter,” Schmidt mused. “We’re up against three of the four World Cup semi-finalists, and we didn’t make the cut. A trip to Argentina is not an easy feat either.
“The Argentinians have shown their strength defeating the All Blacks without allowing them even a bonus point.”
The Wallabies are set to face the Pumas, who won against New Zealand in Wellington last week before succumbing to Scott Robertson’s team in Auckland, in a duo of games. The Aussies put up a fight against a predominantly reshuffled Springboks squad and were down by 11-9 at halfway before coach Rassie Erasmus called up his veteran players off the bench.
South Africa’s global champion Malcolm Marx made two second-half tries securing a lead that the Wallabies couldn’t overrun, winning comfortably amid rainfall. “We gave it our all,” said Schmidt. “We took several risks in adverse conditions. It was challenging to keep the ball and we lost a significant number of balls. However, we managed to ward off some initial threats and I’m pleased with the team’s endeavours.
“I didn’t want the team to play safe to avoid losing. We should have led by the first half, especially because we were aiming to have a competitive first 40 minutes and possibly a slight lead when they released their reserve players.”
Concurrently, All Blacks captain Ardie Savea was undeterred by the upcoming face-off with South Africa, determined to bounce back from the unexpected defeat to Argentina in their match in Auckland on Saturday.
Scott Robertson’s team showcased a triumphant comeback by securing a solid 42-10 victory over Argentina. This impressive win not only lengthened the All Blacks’ 50-game winning streak at their Eden Park fortress, but also set the stage for charged faceoffs with the Springboks on August 31st and September 7th. “We are well aware of the challenge we face visiting South Africa. However, we decided to concentrate on this week, specifically tonight,” explained one of the All Blacks forwards. “We executed the task well. We will now recuperate and relax at home for a few days, save some energy and then regroup to embark on our African journey.”
Even though the Springboks are leading the initial stages of the Rugby Championship by five points, thanks to back-to-back victories against Australia, the All Blacks were compelled to recover from their underwhelming start against the Pumas. Will Jordan bolstered the New Zealand team by scoring a duo of tries while Damian McKenzie amassed 17 points, steering the team toward an easy victory amidst the windy and rain-soaked Auckland; this effectively brought their campaign back on track.
Robertson lauded his team’s robust response, stating “We had discussions about delivering a reaction to our previous game and we did just that, particularly in the first 40 minutes. For us, the messier the conditions, the better. However, we invited challenges upon ourselves as the conditions improved. I take immense pride in our team for demonstrating what we are truly about.”
New Zealand’s victory relied heavily on a remarkable display in the first half, asserting a 35-3 lead by halftime. This led Robertson to express some dissatisfaction with the consistency of his team’s performance in the latter half of the match. “We were pressing to fully dismantle them,” Robertson added, “but sometimes that doesn’t happen. On a brighter note, we had Beauden [Barrett] on as 10, Rieko [Ioane] as a left winger and managed to get Anton [Lienert-Brown] in. We exhausted our entire squad and subsequently lost some momentum. Once we managed to penetrate the 22, we missed out on a few possibilities which might have sweetened the victory. Nevertheless, the team displayed laudable efforts in creating those opportunities.”
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024