Former England duo Ben Youngs and Anthony Watson have urged World Rugby to come down hard on Argentina following Saturday’s Nations Championship clash.
Steve Borthwick’s men claimed a 31-24 victory over Los Pumas in a game full of controversy before it ended in ignominy.
The Argentinians have been widely criticised for their vehement protestations over a last-minute try which was not awarded.
Fly-half Tomas Albornoz even appeared to make physical contact with referee Angus Gardner as he complained about the decision, while an object was thrown from the stands when the officials were exiting the field.
There was also some nastiness after that as head coach Felipe Contepomi accused England of a “lack of respect”, storming out of the press conference due to their music being played too loudly.
That was where Youngs started his epic rant, claiming that Argentina’s approach and attitude ultimately stems from the person at the top.
‘Disgraceful, unforgivable behaviour
“We’ve seen Rassie be banned, we’ve seen Eddie Jones be banned, we’ve seen Steve Diamond in the PREM, we’ve seen Richard Cockerill in the PREM and for me it starts from the head guy and the way he behaves,” he said on the For The Love of Rugby podcast.
“You saw Contepomi after the game, basically his post-match press conference, he’s asked England to turn down the music and the singing, and they haven’t, so he basically storms out.
“His behaviour at Twickenham [in November] was the same and you’ve seen players at the end of the game after the TMO and the ref has made the decision to surround the ref.
“It’s totally disgraceful, unforgivable behaviour. I hope that World Rugby take it seriously, I hope there’s bans dished out, no one wants to see that in our game and the fact they think that’s okay is an absolute disgrace – it’s awful.”
Argentina lit the fuse by wearing a kit which took inspiration from their football team’s 1986 World Cup campaign, that of the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal, before a number of scuffles broke out during the match.
The first came after the opening try following an apparent cheap shot from Mateo Carreras on Tommy Freeman, who was also on the receiving end of a possible punch by that man Albornoz.
“I thought the antics throughout the game were dreadful. Freemo scores, Albornoz runs across and chins him. Whether it was intentional or not, either way he strikes a player in the face,” Youngs added.
“It was constant throughout the game, I thought Argentina’s antics were absolutely awful and I hope World Rugby makes an example of this game because you can’t ever see that behaviour again, I thought it was absolutely shocking.”
Anthony Watson’s view
Watson then added his two cents worth, insisting that he was fine with the two teams coming to blows on the field, but agreed with Youngs over their attitude after the final whistle had blown.
“Let me play devil’s advocate for a bit. The antics on the pitch towards players and the little niggle, I actually don’t mind,” the former back three star said.
“Argentina are playing England in Argentina and obviously we can talk about the context before – the [football] World Cup semi-final, the Falklands – but it forced the game to have a little bit more edge than it otherwise would.
“It’s the last game of the Nations Championship, the England boys are tired and it just forced that little more edge in the game that I thought was a good thing.
“Drama in sport is huge but where the line is drawn in my opinion is post-game, one to the referee and two, to the media, that is completely unacceptable.
“Angus Gardner getting stuff thrown at him walking off the pitch, he’s probably got a family at home and this, that and the other, and he’s there to do a job.
“It didn’t land on him luckily but to even put the potential out there to physically harm someone, it’s absolutely way too far for someone who’s just trying to do their job.”
There has been a debate as to whether Los Pumas should have been awarded a penalty try, but Watson insisted that the officials made the right call.
“I did think the attitude of the Argentinian players towards him when it was no try, and it was definitely no try – there was no debate in my opinion – it was proper childish stuff.
“Kicking the ball away, [Bautista] Delguy moving like a five or six-year-old, it was honestly pretty pathetic. I’m with you, World Rugby’s got to look at it and speak to them, and it does start top-down.
“Where I am surprised is we know [Captain] Julian [Montoya] extremely and he couldn’t be further from that as a player; he’s extremely respectful of decisions, refs, anyone, so I’m surprised the Argentina team has got to that level.
“They’ve got to do something about it, it can’t happen again.”
Racist abuse in last year’s clash
This controversy came a year after England duo Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Chandler Cunningham-South were racially abused by Argentinian supporters last year.
World Rugby condemned the incident, but no sanction was handed out.
“I don’t think England should stop going there, I think World Rugby have got to get involved and try to sort out the deeper issues of what’s going on with Argentina and their home games,” Watson added.
“The racist abuse last year was kind of brushed under the rug, now that this has happened this year I think World Rugby will take a closer look at it, but I don’t think we should stop going there.
“Rugby has still got a duty to grow the game as much as possible.
“I don’t think the punishments have been severe enough for them to take action. Following this now, if they do get not just a strongly worded email from World Rugby, I think that they will have to put some things into action to prevent it from happening again. This might be the final warning.”