Now that the dust has settled on the mid-year internationals, we update you on the state of the participating nations. Next we take a look at Argentina.
Los Pumas came into the July internationals with a fresh outlook following the departure of Michael Cheika, with former assistant Felipe Contepomi taking the reigns for the first time.
The former fly-half is one of his country’s most iconic rugby players. He won 87 international caps for his country, and is currently the second-top points scorer in Argentina’s history with 651. Contepomi also enjoyed stints at Leinster and Stade Francais at club level.
With such an iconic history, mixed with his nations’ recent form too, Contepomi comes into the role with plenty of pressure on his shoulders; can he deliver their first Rugby Championship title?
Mid-year Tests summary
The Contepomi-era began with a two Test series with France, coupled with an extra Test against Uruguay.
Despite France deploying a much-changed squad for the opening Test at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, tries from Baptiste Serin, Antoine Frisch and Théo Attissogbé condemned Argentina to a 28-13 defeat.
Argentina weren’t quite at the races in this opening test. France, and a new-look France at that, were able to carve through them with relative ease.
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This was only a minor setback though, as Argentina responded brilliantly in Test two. A brace from Gallo, alongside other scores from Matteo Carreras, Bello and a penalty try to boot helped Contepomi claim his first win as head coach.
This second test showed Argentina at their ‘nuggety’, abrasive best. They were incredibly confrontational in most areas of the game and just brought bags of physicality to proceedings.
Rounding off their July internationals was a trip to Uruguay, where Los Pumas really bared their teeth in a brilliant showing. They were ruthless on the way to a 79-5 victory over Los Teros, running in 12 tries.
This was the dominant display Contepomi’s team needed after the relatively low-key France series, with several players putting their hands up ready for the start of the Rugby Championship; notably Tomas Albornoz notched himself four assists in the game, Ignacio Mendy scored a fine hat-trick and Mateo Carreras and Joaquin Moro also scored a brace each.
More importantly though, it highlighted what can happen if Argentina are allowed to fully impose themselves onto an opposition, which they didn’t really get the chance to do against France in either test.
Standout players
Argentinian rugby is built around a solid set-piece, and this is an area both Mayco Vivas and Eduardo Bello got spot on against France. The props did an absolute demolition job on their opposite numbers in the first-half, and whilst it was a rotated French team to start with and they had some serious issues tighthead issues in the second test, it was still an impressive feat to destroy the scrum with that amount of ease across both tests.
Captain Julian Montoya, if fit, will also be a massively important part of their team. Not only will his leadership need to come to the fray during the Rugby Championship, but he also adds a huge boost to their scrum and gives a consistent platform from the lineout. He also had a decent hit-out in the opening test against France and reaped the rewards of a clever lineout strike move with a try, but was withdrawn early into the second test.
If Montoya isn’t available, you would imagine the captaincy would pass onto Pablo Matera. The powerful back-rower has quickly gained a reputation as Argentina’s chief enforcer, and lived up to his billing with two abrasive performances against France. He got heavily involved in the defensive efforts, and was again willing to take his fair share of the load in attack as well with some solid carries.
In the backs division, both Mateo and Santi Carreras are vital to the success of this team. Bayonne winger Mateo scored three tries across the three Tests this July, and yet again showed his devastating combination of pace and quick-stepping to good effect. Versatile Gloucester back Santiago also started in both tests against France, and made a decent impact off the bench against Uruguay as well.
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Success story
The final Test against Uruguay had plenty of positives from it, but the real success story from that game would probably be the performance of Tomas Albornoz. The Benetton back had been a bit-part player for Los Pumas since his debut back in the 2022 Rugby Championship, and actually made his first start for Los Pumas in the mammoth victory over Uruguay.
There was a lot on his shoulders too, deputising for Santi Carreras, but he took his chance with both hands. He racked up four assists and slotted eight conversions in the 12-try victory, and was overall very impressive in most areas.
He still has a lot of work to do if he wants to cement himself as the long-term option at 10, but he did his chances no harm at all against Uruguay.
Main regret
Argentina’s main regret will likely be they didn’t secure a clean-sweep over France.
France travelled down to South America with a fresh-looking team. Several players on the tour were only in the U20 set-up a year previous, and big hitters Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Emmanuel Meafou, Uini Atonio and Damian Penaud were all absent from the squad.
In Test one, Argentina only threw their first punch when they were 20-3 down, and it was unfortunately too little too late as they couldn’t claw their way back into the game. Furthermore, they just couldn’t impose their own style on France, and Argentina need to do this early if they stand a chance of winning.
They did improve in Test two and then even more against Uruguay, but a clean sweep against France would have been a great statement building into the Rugby Championship.
Results
Argentina v France (lost 28-13)
Argentina v France (won 33-25)
Uruguay v Argentina (won 79-5)
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Source link : https://www.planetrugby.com/news/state-of-the-nation-abrasive-argentina-improving-into-rugby-championship
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Publish date : 2024-07-29 10:18:01
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