Steve Hansen, the coach of the New Zealand Rugby Team and his captain Richie McCaw were extremely loud and effusive in their praise for the defensive play and aggression demonstrated by the Argentina Rugby Team during their Rugby Championship match on Saturday, the 8th of September as The All Blacks stuttered and struggled before finally putting the game to rest in the last quarter of an hour of the match.
The Rugby World Cup champions were bailed out by two tries late in the game by wingers Cory Jane and Julian Savea to secure the 21-5 victory, which was their third successive win in the inaugural edition of the Rugby Championship, a competition for the Southern Hemisphere. However, the major talking points of the match were the error ridden display put up by The All Blacks and the brutal defensive play of the Argentina Rugby Team, with new Technical Advisor Graham Henry weaving his magic already with his new side.
Although the forwards of The All Blacks tried to take the game to The Pumas players, playing with an extremely high tempo, something they have not done throughout the season, they couldn’t make it count early on, in spite of the Argentine forwards struggling to cope with the frantic pace of the game. However, the veteran players in The Pumas and the shrewd tactician Henry in the dugout devised a plan that completely blocked out the New Zealand Rugby Team, organizing a defensive screen in the backline as well as around the fringes.
Speaking to the media after the game, Hansen accepted that the Argentina Rugby Team is among the best teams in the world in terms of their defensive play and admitted that they had to struggle to break them down and had to rely on their tiring legs to take advantage and the win in the end.