Scrum battle 'excites' All Blacks
New Zealand's forwards are 'excited' by the prospect of taking on the renowned Argentinean scrum.
Injured All Black flyhalf Aaron Cruden, in part two of his exclusive interview with rugby365, said the Kiwi pack took note of how the Pumas dismantled the much-vaunted South Africa scrum in the early rounds of the Rugby Championship.
New Zealand host Argentina in Napier on Saturday and the power of the Pumas' set pieces remain a topic of much debate.
* The interview continues below the sound clip!
He said the Argentineans will be "reasonably confident" after twice running the Springboks close – losing 6-13 in monsoon-like conditions in Pretoria and then suffering a heartbreaking 31-33 loss to the Boks in Salta a week later.
"They were unlucky in that last game not to come away with a win," Cruden told rugby365.
"They play with a lot of heart, they play with a lot of passion and a lot of physicality as well.
"They bring that Argentinean flair. We will have to make sure we are really accurate and really clinical in everything we do to limit the chance [of winning] that they have."
He said the manner in which the Pumas roughed up and put pressure on the Bok scrum was telling.
"The [All Black] forwards are really happy with how they went in the last Test against Australia," the flyhalf said of the record 51-20 drubbing they gave the Wallabies in Auckland.
"We are not going to sit back. The forwards are keen to work hard and get really excited by those scrum battles, which will be pretty exciting and potentially will determine how well both sides go.
By Jan de Koning
* This Aaron Cruden interview was brought to you courtesy of the AIG Rugby Safety Awards, a global campaign to tackle safety in rugby. Find out how you could win safety equipment for your club here: www.aig.com/saferugby
** Stay tuned for the rest of our interview with Aaron Cruden – when he talks about the big rivalry between the All Blacks and Springboks, the beating the South African forwards took from the Pumas, as well as flyhalf play and the various flyhalves and their roles in the Rugby Championship.
