Bad boy Lavanini in the dock
Los Pumas – in both their 23-41 loss in Salta at the weekend and the 15-37 loss to the Springboks in Port Elizabeth the week before – displayed the lack of control that harks back to the amateur days, when brute force and spiteful tactics were the way they stayed competitive.
Their penalty count has gone well into the 20s in just two matches – to go along with two yellow cards and, of course, Lavanini's infamous red card at the weekend.
"We'll be talking with Lavanini," coach Daniel Hourcade said after the lock was twice yellow card – the second becoming an automatic red card.
Lavanini – who has a well-documented history of poor discipline – spent 10 minutes in the sin bin in the first quarter, when an ugly-looking no-arms tackle was punished, and then again in the 56th minute, when he prevented a certain try with a deliberate slap-down of the ball.
He was not the only culprit.
No.8 Juan Martin Leguizamón, just a minute after a team warning for repeated infringements, conceded another penalty at a line-out and he was also given his marching orders.
"Of course [our] indiscipline is worrying," Hourcade said.
Captain Agustin Creevy also bemoaned his team's indiscipline.
"It's very hard to play with 14 players for almost half a match of this kind," Creevy told reporters.
"We weren't patient and we didn't have control when we should have," Creevy added.
"I think what South Africa is a much more complete team than last year.
"They continue with the vehemence [physicality] of always, but they are more refined, their systems are much improved and that is the difference."
Creevy also spoke about the challenge they face in the upcoming trip to Australasia.
"We are going to undertake one of the most difficult tours for us, because both teams [New Zealand in New Plymouth and Australia in Canberra] are playing very well.
Of the All Blacks there is little to add and the Wallabies, although their franchises did not go well [in Super Rugby], they showed at the weekend that they are a real threat."
@rugby365com
