New Zealand Vs. Argentina Rugby Championship Recap: All Blacks Send Message
New Zealand Vs. Argentina Rugby Championship Recap: All Blacks Send Message
Answering plenty of critics after losing in Wellington last weekend, New Zealand put up a classic devastating performance at Eden Park to get back on track.
Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. India’s national cricket team at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The Aussie rules football teams that call the Melbourne Cricket Ground home.
And the New Zealand national rugby team at Eden Park.
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Some of the world’s elite sporting teams just play better when they’re in certain venues, whether it’s from an established level of comfort and/or familiarity or an X-factor about the place that makes their play go up another level. The All Blacks in Auckland, where they’ve haven't lost since 1994, are a prime example of that.
Case in point: a 42-10 victory over Argentina on Saturday to extend their unbeaten run at Eden Park to 50 games over 30 years and get a crucial bounceback victory in the second round of this year’s Rugby Championship.
A brilliant and lethal New Zealand romped over Los Pumas in sending a message to the rest of the competition's field, scoring six tries in terrible weather conditions in Auckland, as the All Blacks showed they're still to be feared after stunningly dropping their Rugby Championship opener last weekend to Argentina in Wellington.
Try-scoring machine Will Jordan looked as good as new after a long recovery period from shoulder surgery forced him to miss the entire Super Rugby season, scoring a brace in his first start since the Rugby World Cup.
Other tries from Damian McKenzie, Ardie Savea, Caleb Clarke and Beauden Barrett — all of which were scored in the first half — helped as New Zealand completely blew Los Pumas away.
Ahead 35-3 by halftime, the All Blacks ensured that all the pre-match chatter about the Eden Park streak potentially coming to an end was squashed immediately.
McKenzie and Savea’s tries got the hosts ahead by a 14-3 margin inside 20 minutes, with McKenzie in particular — who had a rough game in Wellington — being clinical. He went 6 for 6 on his kicks to go along with his try in unfavorable weather.
Los Pumas picked up a consolation try in the final 10 minutes from Juan Cruz Mallia, but by then, their chances of picking up a famous win at Eden Park were long gone, and they had to settle for splitting this year’s Rugby Championship series with New Zealand.
The All Blacks’ play looked much more like the free-flowing, attacking style that those who follow the team had hoped for when New Zealand hired former Crusaders boss Scott Robertson as head coach, with “Razor” and his squad looking sharp, as their run toward a fifth straight Rugby Championship title got some extra fuel.
The wet conditions in Auckland also played into the All Blacks’ advantage with their pack, as they were able to have many more scrum opportunities than they had in the Wellington test, which had no scrums until late in the second half.
That was evident in the fact that loosehead prop Tamaiti Williams, who got the start after not being in the All Blacks’ 23 last weekend, had a monster game in the front row. New Zealand, as a whole, looked much more intense and powerful than a week prior.
New Zealand ranks second in the Rugby Championship table after two matches, being five points down to rival South Africa (at 10 points), after the Springboks won both of their opening tests over Australia. Argentina is third in the standings on four points, with the last-place Wallabies yet to have scored a point.
Round 3 will see the All Blacks visit South Africa on Aug. 31 in a rematch of the Rugby World Cup final, while Argentina will host Australia in La Plata on the same date.
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