Napier, New Zealand – The All Blacks gave their forwards credit for a convincing win over Argentina Saturday after they out-muscled the feared visiting pack and set the stage for a 28-9 win.
Coach Steve Hansen said the World Cup and Rugby Championship title-holders “sometimes get underestimated at scrum time” but two tries from scrums told a different story.
“From a scrummaging point of view we should be very proud,” he said.
Argentina went into the match with a pack that twice outplayed South Africa in recent weeks, underscoring their reputation for having one of the best scrums in world rugby.
It forced the All Blacks to focus on their tight five in the build up to the Test and captain Richie McCaw said the work paid off after the bonus-point, four-try win.
Two of their tries came from scrums, including a tighthead on the halfway line, while a concerted defensive effort kept their own line intact with all Argentina's points coming from penalties.
“We were under no illusions the Argentina pack done well over last couple of weeks and our big boys were up for it. For the most part we did a good job,” McCaw said.
“There was a hell of a lot of pressure in there. It's the most amount of pressure I've had as flanker for a long time so I'd hate to think what it was like up front.”
Backrower Kieran Read, the 2013 world player of the year, said the tight five set the stage for the victory.
“There's a lot of work going into those scrums and you have to praise the boys up front for putting a platform on for us,” he said.
“Two tries from scrums, one a tighthead and one right on their line. We put a lot of pressure on them and it's nice to be on the back of that.
“Rightly so, the Pumas scrum is rated right up there at the moment and they put a lot of pressure on us and the work that our guys put in has been fantastic.”
The try from a tighthead on the halfway line came just before half-time when Argentina had the ball at the back of their scrum before a concerted All Blacks shove turned the tables and fly-half Beauden Barrett sent flanker Liam Messam away.
“The ball just popped out, there was a tighthead and there was a bit of space between the first five (fly-half) and the scrum. Luckily Liam popped up on the other side and it was a good time to score.”
For the All Blacks, Julian Savea scored twice with Messam and Aaron Smith also touching down. Argentina's points came from three penalties by Nicolas Sanchez. – Sapa-AFP