Pumas must be more clinical
Argentina captain Felipe Contepomi said his team would need to be more clinical when they face France next week following their 22-16 victory over Italy in Verona.
The Pumas made it five wins in a row in Italy as Martin Rodriguez scored a try and Contepomi hit five penalties in an otherwise stale affair.
Coach Santiago Phelan praised his team’s defence but Contepomi said it will take more than that to repeat June’s stunning 41-13 thrashing of the French – in which he scored 31 points.
“The most important facet of the game that we need to improve is finishing off chances,” he said.
“That means we need to have more possession higher up the pitch, we need to be more organised and we need to cut out the mistakes in defence.”
However, Pumas wing Gonzalo Camacho believes they will face a team gunning for revenge, after their embarrassing loss in Argentina.
“They probably will be, they were also embarrassed in the World Cup in France and I think they will have extra motivation and concentration,” he said.
“They will try to get the job done quickly and take the Pumas out of their heads for a long time because I think we’re a pain in the arse for them.
“Argentina have very few opportunities to get together and train, that performance [against France] was in the last of three weeks together.
“The two weeks before that were very good for the team to train together and understand each other. So that’s how the Pumas develop.
“We only have three weeks in June and three weeks in November when we’re together.
“It’s not like England or France who can get together once or twice a month because they’re already training there. We’re playing in different places but we’re definitely improving.”
Italy had a pair of chances to score in the opening 10 minutes but captain Sergio Parisse was probably guilty of poor decision making on both occasions and the chances went begging.
Italy’s South African coach Nick Mallett said the real difference, though, was that Argentina took their chance to score a try and have a better flyhalf.
“I’m very, very disappointed. I said beforehand that if we lost this match it would be a big disappointment for this team,” he said.
“It doesn’t change anything in our desire to relaunch ourselves, though. This is the first step not the last one.
“We had two or three possibilities to score and they had two so it’s a big disappointment.”
Italy did get a penalty try late on when Argentina wheeled a scrum five yards out with the Azzurri putting on a big heave.
But it was too little too late after Rodriguez took his chance when left wing Lucas Gonzalez-Amorosino had collected his own chip ahead and offloaded to the full-back early in the second period.
“Maybe the difference between the teams is confidence. Argentina have Contepomi who really has a lot of confidence at flyhalf, the trust of his teammates and he manages the game,” said Mallett.
“But we have Sergio who said it was his fault but it’s not his fault we lost. Sergio has held this team together many times, he’s had great games for Italy.
“Rugby is a great sport where it’s not one person who changes the result.
“There was one situation where we lost the ball near their line, they got the ball wide and it was two backs against two forwards.
“They were faster, the chip was perfect for their player but it could have gone differently.
“We had two chances with Sergio, one with Luke McLean at the end, we had our chances and we hope that when we play again we’ll take them.”
AFP
