All Blacks coach Scott Robertson says a lot of little things didn’t go their way in the 29-23 loss to the Pumas in Buenos Aires.
The result is the first time the All Blacks have lost in 40 years of test matches in Argentina, with the greater cost still unknown, after an injury to Cortez Ratima that forced the starting halfback from the field in the first half.
“Test footy’s tough,” Robertson said. “When you get three yellow cards… we didn’t get a lot of little things go our way.”
How “little” the cards to Will Jordan, Tupou Vaa’i and Sevu Reece were was debatable, but the number of contestable kicks sent downfield by Santiago Carreras and Gonzalo Garcia that were never dealt with properly by the normally reliable All Black backfield was clear.
“There’s lots of little areas that I can talk about, but it is fundamentally, how they got the domination of the game,” Robertson said.
Captain Scott Barrett pointed to a lack of possession for their woes.
Captain Scott Barrett blamed a lack of possession for the All Blacks defeat.
Photo: ActionPress
“With 40 percent territory and 40 percent ball, it’s hard to win a test match,” said Barrett, who admittedly put in a decent shift in a losing cause. “The Pumas are a class act and we didn’t front up where we needed to,”
Those weren’t the only stats painting a grim picture. The Pumas made 148 carries to the All Blacks’ 84 and posted double the amount of post-contact metres with six linebreaks.
The much-vaunted set-piece fell apart at the worst possible time, with key lineouts botched in the crucial last 15 minutes and the Pumas’ scrum providing the perfect platform for Gonzalo García’s matchwinning try.
Robertson said the focus was on tidying up areas from last weekend’s comfortable win in Cordoba, but ultimately, the All Blacks “didn’t execute well enough”.
“[The Pumas] were hungry, won a lot of those scraps and fed off the crowd,” he said.
Robertson revealed that Ratima, who left the field after 18 minutes, had suffered a chest injury, but was cleared to fly home with the team. The extent of the injury won’t be known until they arrive back in New Zealand, where presumably, some potentially serious tactical adjustments may take place.
“We’ve got really high standards for ourselves,” said Robertson. “They’ve been set by other [All Blacks] teams and we’ve got to reach them each week.
“These tests are their own story and we’ve got to write it the best we can through effort.”
Attention now turns to the impending visit by world champions South Africa, who hope to become the first side to beat the All Blacks at Eden Park since 1994, when they meet on 6 September.
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