{"id":101117,"date":"2025-08-28T02:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/101117\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T02:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:36:11","slug":"wallabies-vs-argentina-michael-atkinson-opinion-all-blacks-fans-arrogant-after-pumas-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/101117\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies vs Argentina, Michael Atkinson opinion, All Blacks fans arrogant after Pumas loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s an understandable wave of positivity and belief following the Wallabies<\/a> at the moment – both inside the team and from the sport-loving Australian public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previously jaded rugby fans are back on board, even those who have never been on board have had their interest piqued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 62-year-long hoodoo-busting win and a narrow, spirited defeat from two games against the back-to-back defending world champion Springboks<\/a>, on their own turf, will do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Rugby Championship with every match streaming live and on demand on the home of rugby, Stan Sport<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Fraser<\/p>\n

Fraser McReight and James O’Connor of the Wallabies pose for a photo.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

But, while the rugby community is excited by the obvious improvements the national side is making under Joe Schmidt, knowledgeable fans are aware there are no easy games in the Rugby Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, I’m not sure the average, or casual, sports fan is attuned to that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is a sense from some corners that the performances in South Africa mean the next two games against Argentina are foregone conclusions and Australia can start dreaming about bringing back the Bledisloe Cup.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Miserable new low as Man Utd eliminated by lowly semi pros<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely no idea’: Joey stumped amid Knights dilemma<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Suns break 15-year hoodoo as finals fixture locked in<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Argentina<\/p>\n

Argentina celebrate after winning.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

But, I’m here to tell you – the Pumas are no pushovers.\u00a0Their recent win over the All Blacks in Argentina is the best reminder you can have of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don’t let the Kiwi reaction to the historic 29-23 loss<\/a> – Argentina’s first home victory over New Zealand – mislead you.<\/p>\n

The outcry and outrage from some areas of the New Zealand media and ex-players has been mind-boggling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Michael Cheika makes his Inside Line debut to cover the reality of player movement across the global market and his own coaching ambitions<\/p>\n

It’s not like they lost to Chile, the 20th ranked nation in men’s rugby.\u00a0It’s not even the first time Los Pumas have lowered the colours of the greatest rugby nation in the game’s history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Argentina has defeated the All Blacks four times in the last five years, twice in New Zealand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s more wins than Australia has had over the All Blacks in that same period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Players<\/p>\n

Players of New Zealand perform the haka.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Our last win over our nearest neighbour came back in 2020.\u00a0As former Wallaby, Justin Harrison, rightly pointed out on Stan Sport’s Inside Line this week, the reaction has been “arrogant.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s one thing to have passion for your national team and be disappointed in a loss, but to label it “embarrassing,” as some commentators have, is in itself embarrassing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Los Pumas defeated the British and Irish Lions only two months ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They’ve made more Rugby World Cup semi-finals than Australia in the last three tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They’ve made more semi-finals than Ireland\u2026 ever! (The Irish have never advanced past the quarter-final stage).\u00a0<\/p>\n

This isn’t a developing rugby nation. Argentina is a world rugby powerhouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Pumas celebrate at CommBank Stadium.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

And they believe they belong up with the best. Belief is a key element in their success in the last five years.<\/p>\n

Former Wallabies and Pumas coach Michael Cheika enlightened us on Inside Line about how instilling that belief has elevated their international performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We are seeing huge deposits of belief in the Wallabies in the last two months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But what no-one should believe is that Argentina will be easybeats in Townsville and Sydney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They are going to be brutal, physical, tense and entertaining Test matches.\u00a0Winning one for Australia is a good result. Winning two will be a huge success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not just because it’ll add to the bubble of positivity and support building around the Wallabies, but it’ll do Australia’s rankings a world of good.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the Rugby World Cup 2027 pool draw to happen in December this year, being ranked in the top six is crucial.<\/p>\n

Currently, the Wallabies are sitting sixth, with Argentina closely behind in seventh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So there’s huge breathing space in the rankings to be gained, but beating a nation as good as Argentina will let the rugby world know the Wallabies aren’t to be messed with.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s an understandable wave of positivity and belief following the Wallabies at the moment – both inside the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-101117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}