Why Are The Pumas Performing So Much Better Than The Jaguares?

The All Blacks’ annihilation of the Wallabies in the opening fortnight of the Rugby Championship may be the headline act of the Spring International season, but the Pumas deserve praise for their performances against South Africans – especially after the Jaguares’ Super Rugby baptism of fire.

A split series with South Africa to start the Rugby Championship was no less than the Pumas deserved and if not for the lack of composure that plagued the Jaguares in the Super Rugby series, the Argentinians could well be sitting unbeaten heading into the third round clash with the All Blacks.

When the Jaguares announced their roster for the Super Rugby season, hopes were high that the Argentinians could parlay their international experience into a decent showing in the southern hemisphere’s most taxing weekly grind. It was ostensibly the Argentinean test team, playing in a club competition. Surely, thought most pundits, they would be more than a match for any opposition.

The reality was this: Super Rugby’s expansion teams have rarely set the world on fire (the Brumbies being the only genuine exception) and the travel burden, coupled with the lack of familiarity with the rigours of week-in, week-out tournament play proved too much for the Jaguares to handle. In the end, they were a disappointment. However, there were signs that with more exposure to tournament play, the Jaguares could become a genuine force, rather than an occasional success.

Over the last two weeks, the Pumas have played with a greater intensity than they were able to show through their Jaguares exploits, but their style of play has neatly mirrored that of their Super Rugby season, reinforcing the notion that this is a team that can lift for the big occasion, if not produce results on a weekly basis.

Metres per carry, clean breaks, offloads, goal kicking percentage, and lineout percentage have all increased from the Super Rugby average, while the only real decrease in performance has come at the scrum, where the Pumas were especially troubled in the first test but eventually found a way to improve throughout the Salta match on the weekend.

That raises another crucial point about this Pumas side: exposure to weekly play has enhanced the side’s ability to make quick adjustments in game plan. In test one, the Pumas dominated the possession stats but a full 70% of that possession was used within their own half. In test two, that number had been reduced to just above 50% while it was South Africa that spent 70% of their time in possession inside their own half.

These statistics aren’t always indicators of success, especially when you consider the Pumas are still missing 20 tackles a game. Still, missing those tackles inside the opposition half is much better than missing them inside your own red zone, as the Pumas did in the first test in South Africa.

South African fans will claim that this is a weak Springbok side, but that does a disservice to the Pumas free-running game plan. The Springboks aren’t so much weak, as lacking conviction in the style of play that saw the Lions go all the way to the Super Rugby final. In both matches so far in the Rugby Championship it has been the Lions’ cavalry that has offered the team the most value, but they need to be given more freedom to express that.

The Pumas are expressing their intent in spades and head into week three of the competition second to the All Blacks in every key attacking statistic, boasting twice as many clean breaks (16) as the Springboks , twice as many offloads (12) as the Wallabies, and more passes, more metres, and more defenders beaten than both.

Where there is still massive room for improvement is in discipline and ball retention. The scrum woes aside, the Pumas still must work harder on the lineout, where only Australia’s malfunctioning set piece boasts a worse percentage, and their competition-high penalty count and card record undermines their positivity on attack.

There will be some who suggest that the Argentineans simply find another gear when they put on the national colours and that stands to reason given their long history of exclusion from regular, competitive club contact. Perhaps no player has better illustrated that over the last couple of weeks than halfback Martin Landajo who was outstanding in the second test against the Springboks.

Landajo was a one-man playmaking machine over the weekend and has obviously been given a licence to control the game. In two tests he has averaged more carries, more metres, more clean breaks, more defenders beaten, and more try assists than he averaged in the entire Super Rugby season. He leads all halfbacks in every one of those statistics.

That’s the kind of play the Jaguares will be hoping to get out of their test playing roster in next year’s Super Rugby competition, and that’s the kind of play that will ensure the Pumas still have a win or two up their sleeves in this Rugby Championship.