{"id":64266,"date":"2025-08-13T04:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/64266\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T04:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:56:10","slug":"powerhouse-pumas-wont-be-lacking-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/64266\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Powerhouse’ Pumas won’t be lacking confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2025 Rugby Championship<\/a> promises to be one of the most unpredictable editions of the tournament in its history, and the All Blacks<\/a> appear crystal clear on what they have to nail to avoid more unwanted history in round one.<\/p>\n

The team are in Corboda ahead of their first clash with Los Pumas, and star fullback Will Jordan<\/a> knows as well as anyone what the Argentines are capable of.<\/p>\n

Jordan started on the right wing when New Zealand<\/a> hosted Argentina<\/a> in Christchurch in 2022, a game that was famously submitted to the record books as Los Pumas\u2019 first win over the All Blacks on Kiwi soil.<\/p>\n

With this weekend\u2019s hosts still searching for their first triumph over the men from New Zealand in Argentina, there\u2019s plenty of motivation for what is well-renowned as one of rugby\u2019s most passionate teams.<\/p>\n

Jordan said his team were expecting\u00a0\u201ca lot of passion\u201d from both their opponents and the local crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know they\u2019ll come hard at our breakdown. In the Rugby Championship over the last few years, they\u2019ve really challenged us, particularly in the first game; I think we\u2019ve lost the last couple of those in the Rugby Championship against them,\u201d he told reporters after Tuesday\u2019s training.<\/p>\n

Recent results between the two teams have been tight this decade, and the Kiwis aren\u2019t the only side to fall victim to Argentina\u2019s continued growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou only have to go back to a couple of months ago now, when they beat the Lions<\/a> in Dublin, to show what kind of team they are, and they\u2019ve obviously beaten us a couple of times in the last few years,\u201d Jordan added.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they\u2019re certainly a powerhouse of World Rugby at the moment. Certainly, coming over here, we know it\u2019s going to be a huge challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The All Blacks have also enjoyed a winning start to 2025, claiming a three-nil series win over France. Jordan outlined what he saw as the biggest positives from the international campaign so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like we built some good combinations. The whole squad got a go, so I think everyone\u2019s ready to play if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like on attack, we built some good flow, we were able to play to some edges and get some benefit there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Kiwis, tackling a \u201cconfident\u201d Pumas outfit requires \u201cmatching that physicality and also trying to limit their ability other use their feet and their skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan expanded on what the game would demand of him in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor myself, as a back-three player, they\u2019ve shown a huge ability to get up in the air and compete through their kicking game. So, winning the air is going to be an important battle for me. And I think just matching their energy and passion in the opening 20 minutes. Playing at home, they\u2019re going to be pretty up for it, so it\u2019s important we come out firing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 Rugby Championship promises to be one of the most unpredictable editions of the tournament in its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-64266","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\/64266","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=64266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}