By Greg Stutchbury
WELLINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Two late tries from wingers
Julian Savea and Cory Jane gave the All Blacks a 21-5 victory
over Argentina in their Rugby Championship match that was
disrupted by a power cut in the port area of New Zealand’s
capital city on Saturday.
Wellington Regional Stadium, which sits on land adjacent to
the port, was plunged into darkness during the halftime break
because of the outage, which delayed the start of the second
half for about 15 minutes.
The blackout was an apt metaphor for the game, with few
highlights to speak about as both sides battled driving rain and
swirling gale-force winds.
“They put us under a bit of pressure, but I was very happy
with the way we came out in the second half. We played at the
right end of the field and that pressure told in the end,” All
Blacks captain Richie McCaw said in a pitchside interview.
“We got a bit frustrated with the scrum, couldn’t quite get
it right.”
The Pumas were brutal in defence and brilliant at
controlling the tempo of the game as they slowed it down at
every opportunity, meandering to lineouts and taking time to set
their scrum.
They also flooded the breakdown with their second and third
tacklers flopping over the ball carrier in an attempt to stop
the world champions developing momentum as the All Blacks failed
to adequately clear them from the ruck.
The All Blacks, however, only had themselves to blame for
much of their performance as they failed to correct errors that
had blighted their previous two matches in the competition,
back-to-back victories over Australia.
Continued…
