Los Pumas was always in control says coach

REACTION: Los Pumas assistant coach Juan Fernández Lobbe reckons the Argentinians were always in control of the game in their 19-10 victory over Samoa in their Pool D match at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne on Saturday.

He also pointed out that Argentina won a hundred percent of their set-phases.

“The most pleasant and gratifying thing was that the team always felt in control, doing what they had been preparing during the week.

“After their try you saw a team in control, that knew what it wanted to do, got together under the posts, went to the restart and continued playing. I felt, from the sideline, it was a team in control.

“The offensive maul was very satisfactory because in the different sectors of the field where there was a maul it was possible to move forward.

“In those three mauls five yards (from the Samoa try line), in one we entered with Juan (González) that did not end in a try; the second is a move with (Emiliano) Boffelli and in the third the ball was not well played.

“The objectives that the Doge (scrum coach Andrés Bordoy) gave them before the game were achieved during the game.

“We were able to have 100 percent of our balls in lineout and scrum. In a game where we had to go for it, getting your set-pieces is a big step forward.

“Until yesterday when the match ended, the focus was fully on Samoa. Today we celebrate this much-needed victory and tomorrow we will start thinking about Chile.”

Commenting on the current form of Santiago Carreras, he said: “As coaches, we have a lot of confidence in him; we believe that with ups and downs he is doing what we want a Pumas fly-half to do. If he is with the number 10 jersey, it is because we believe that he is doing things well, carrying out the strategy that is proposed. ”

“We have confidence in him, in Nico and in the other 31 players on the team.”

“A World Cup is not the same as anything, it is not the same as any test match, or playing against South Africa at Ellis Park. One cannot ignore the emotional repercussions of playing in the first World Cup match. The most important thing about the team in this second step was the focus of going out to make things right.

“The team understood that it was time to go look for it, focus on that. It was a good game, with a lot of things to improve and learn.

“From the first to the second game we built, and that’s good.”