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Will Jordan scored a double from the bench to help New Zealand beat a determined Argentina 38-0 and nearly claim the 2020 Three Nations title. DYLAN JACK reports.
With the victory, New Zealand effectively won the Three Nations title, with the remaining match between Argentina and Australia, who are five points apart. Given that both teams have a negative point difference, it is unlikely that Argentina or Australia will deny the All Blacks the title, unless either of them scores a big bonus point win next Saturday.
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After two consecutive defeats, the All Blacks entered the game under pressure to improve their performances with head coach Ian Foster. The New Zealanders certainly used their week’s break from their loss to Argentina to fix what went wrong in that game.
For comparison, New Zealand was much better defensively but, just as important, they put pressure on Argentina on set pieces and at half-time. Tighthead mainstay Nepo Laulala made the difference in the All Blacks scrum, while blind flank Akira Ioane also had efficient play after his Test debut against the Wallabies ended early.
Argentina, who made 10 changes to their starting lineup for this game, was largely forced to live on scraps, but was not helped by their scrum and lineout malfunctions, while the midfielders’ kickoffs Filipe Ezcurra and Nicolás Sánchez were quite poor.
New Zealand fared much better in the opening exchanges, keeping the Argentine defense honest with a couple of back kicks. A long period of pressure on the 22 opposition finally saw Dane Coles score in the corner with a floating pass from Richie Mo’unga. Mo’unga nailed the conversion from the touchline and added a penalty as New Zealand opened up a 10-0 lead after 17 minutes.
Argentina had a magnificent opportunity to counterattack a minute later when they won a scrum in New Zealand’s 22-meter area. However, the All Blacks had the authority at the scrum, with Laulala particularly having a good start as a tight-headed prop.
Despite the dominance of the All Blacks, Argentina was able to hold firm enough to go 10 points behind at halftime. Possession and territory were very similar in the second half, but the All Blacks did their best to seize their fair share of opportunities, opting for inside passes rather than exploiting overlaps.
The dam wall finally burst when a clever variation of the five-meter lineout caused Ardie Savea to shoot and score, leaving Argentina with a mountain to climb. The job in the final 20 minutes for Argentina was to prevent New Zealand from getting a bonus point from four attempts. However, Jordan came off the bench and pounced on a pair of broken attacks to execute a counter brace on his first two test attempts.
In an eventful period after Tyrel Lomax was sent off with a yellow card for a dangerous clean-up, which may even have justified a red card, before Patrick Tuipulotu put the finishing touches on a massive victory.
All the black people – Attempts: Dane Coles, Ardie Savea, Will Jordan (2), Patrick Tuipulotu. Conversions: Richie Mo’unga (4). Penalty: discharge.
Argentina –
All the black people – 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Jordie Barrett, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Jack Goodhue, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (c), 6 Akira Ioane, 5 Sam Whitelock , 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.
Subs: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Alex Hodgman, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Hoskins Sotutu, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Rieko Ioane, 23 Will Jordan.
Argentina – 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Subs: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago Carreras 23 Lucas Mensa.
Photo: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
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