Sir John Kirwan was left bitterly disappointed by the All Blacks’ defeat to Argentina in round two of the Rugby Championship, but isn’t overly concerned about Scott Robertson’s side’s chances against the Springboks.
Damian McKenzie’s late penalty clinched a losing bonus point for New Zealand as they fell to their maiden defeat to Los Pumas in Argentina, going down 29-23 in Buenos Aires.
Argentina were outstanding
Reacting to the match on the Rivals podcast, legendary winger Kirwan slammed the performance of the All Blacks and sympathised with former Springboks lock Victor Matfield after the latter’s former team fell to a defeat to Australia in round one.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Argentina because I thought they were outstanding, but it was just a hard watch,” Kirwan said.
“It’s probably the worst performance I’ve seen from the All Blacks for a while. I know how you felt last week, Victor, because I’m feeling the same this week.”
After the loss to the Wallabies at Ellis Park, Boks head coach Rassie Erasmus described his charges’ performance as ‘dogshit’ and Kirwan used the same word to sum up the All Blacks‘ showing in South America.
“When I analysed it and when I went and relooked at stuff, Rassie, who is never scared to make a headline, said ‘we were dogshit’ last week after that game, and it’s a pretty fair summary of what happened with the All Blacks, I think,” he added.
“We missed 40 tackles; a lot of the other tackles, I believe, were quite passive. So the defensive line wasn’t coming forward because after a couple of rucks, the Argentinians were actually breaking through and getting that extra yard, yard and a half. So it started with that, our kick receiving game was the worst I’ve seen.
“That’s a little bit of a concern because you know that South Africa are going to bring that, but you know Argentina are going to bring it, too.
“Then I think some of our superstars that sometimes can just break a game open and turn that feeling that you’ve got – just didn’t.
“It was Will Jordan’s quietest Test match ever, Ardie was quiet – there was just this combination of things.”
Kirwan is not worried
While Kirwan was disappointed by the All Blacks’ performance, he still feels confident ahead of the back-to-back Tests against the Springboks. He feels that Robertson’s charges had an off-day.
“Argentina were just outstanding, their tactics were outstanding, they had a good mix of playing expansively, but also their kicking game was next level, but they were just very, very good at the breakdown, defensive line, and tackle line. It was that bad that I’m actually not that worried – if that makes sense,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Matfield wasn’t overly shocked by the result as he believes that the top six teams in the world are able to beat anyone on their day.
The legendary lock says there is an outdated arrogance among the Springboks and All Blacks fans and pundits who think the teams should be boasting 80 or 90% win records.
“I used the word ‘arrogant’ with the Springboks team last week, and it was probably not the right word – I think we just wanted to push our game forward more. To go back to that arrogance, I think especially in South Africa and New Zealand, we [fans] still live in the ’90s and early 2000s, where we think if we’ve got a good team, we should beat everyone,” he added.
“I think the rugby world has changed. Even South Africa against Australia, although I thought we were better, it was still a struggle. I really believe these days, there are five or six teams out there that on any day can beat anyone. It’s not like in the old days, where the All Blacks will have a 90% or 85% win record anymore.
“It has changed, and it opens up the Rugby Championship. It’s fantastic for the competition, and it’s so close that if you have an off-day or your mindset is not right, these other teams can beat you on any day.”
Kirwan added: “I do not disagree with that at all, Victor. I think you’re right. When competitions are close, it’s good, and I’m really excited about the rest of the Championship.
“The only thing for me is if we had played well and Argentina still beat us, I would have been more worried, but I just think it was one of those days where no one played well. There is criticism of Beaudy [Beauden Barrett], but I think he was really good. I wouldn’t have taken him off.
“I don’t disagree, Victor, but I also think that it’s 3% but I think we were five or 6% off our performance. I watched the South African and Aussie game, and my respect for this Australian team continues to grow every week. The Springboks were really good, and you are trying to change your game, so I get some of those errors.”