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'This is an abject failure for NZ rugby' - How Twitter reacted to Los Pumas seismic win over the All Blacks
By Ian Cameron
Much of the Northern Hemisphere rugby world woke up this morning to the shock news that Los Pumas had beaten the All Blacks for the first time in their history.
It was Argentina's first test in more than a year – following on from the defeat of the US at the 2019 World Cup – but they made an electric start in Australia with Stade Francais flyhalf Sanchez dotting down in the 19th minute after collecting his own chip to dive under the posts.
A couple of penalties from Sanchez, together with a resolute Los Puma's defence that repeatedly contained the All Blacks, and it started to seem like an upset could be in the offing.
A try apiece for captain Sam Cane and winger Caleb Clarke wasn't enough for the All Blacks to claw the game back and Mario Ledesma's men hung on a memorable victory at the Bankwest Stadium. Like Ireland's first win over New Zealand in 2016 in Chicago, it marks a notable upward shift for Los Pumas, who can truly now sit at world rugby's top table as genuine equals.
The rugby community on Twitter went into overdrive, of course.
Matera: “We’re used to this. Everything is hard in Argentina...we want to show people that if you fight and you work hard, you get what you fight for.”
The 'feels' hitting the Argentina players was a sight to behold. Pumas head coach Mario Ledesma getting choked up with emotion at the final whistle, well, had everybody getting choked up:
Many questioned why the Springboks chose to not compete in this year's Tri Nations, with the undercooked Pumas more than a match for the All Blacks. "Argentina's performance today makes a mockery of the Springboks not wanting to travel for The Rugby Championship because they haven't played since the world cup."
This video from Los Pumas detailing how they prepared for the game while in lockdown goes viral:
The general mood was one of overwhelming joy for Los Pumas, combined with a good deal of hand wringing from All Blacks fans and New Zealand pundits.
2020 just keeps on giving.
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Latest Comments
Agreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
Go to commentsAs Naas would say... A win is a win.
It was not perfect and at times frustrating. All 3 tests were not the best by the Boks and they still found ways to win.
Rassie would have noted the sloppyness at times and silly mistakes. The 9's made amateur handling mistakes when clearing the rucks in all 3 tests.
Once the "stupid" mistakes are eliminated, this Bok team will be very very hard to beat.
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