All Blacks learn from Boks' mistakes
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: With loads of attention on Argentina’s scrummaging, All Blacks have also identified the line-outs as an area of interest ahead of the Rugby Championship match.
The Los Pumas are known for the powerful scrummaging and the detailed execution was again evident during their 32-19 win over the Springboks in Mendoza.
However, New Zealand lock Brodie Retallick revealed that the Pumas’s lineouts are also a facet of their game where they dominated the Springboks.
The lock told the All Blacks official website that Los Pumas are big men and in the past, he might have had backed his side’s speed to get on top of them but from what the All Blacks had seen in the Championship so far Los Pumas had become very explosive from a lineout perspective.
“They [Argentina] chuck their jumpers outrageously high into the air so they’ve obviously put a lot of work into that especially defensively trying to cut off ball so we’re going to have to be sharp in that department,” Retallack explained.
“If you’re explosive and fast off the ground, with a good lift, then 99 percent of the time you’re going to get to the top before they do. So that’s certainly the philosophy we take that if we can win the race to get off the ground and into the air we should be winning the ball,” he said.
Defensively, they had the option of mirroring the Pumas actions in the lineout or working in pods to contest the ball when the hooker threw the ball in. Argentina had great success with the latter against South Africa and they had been a lot better than they had been for some time, he said.
Argentina had shown how effective their scrambling defence was when South Africa made line breaks which revealed a team that was willing to work for each other, Retallack added.
In terms of scrummaging, prop Owen Franks is expecting a massive challenge.
“They take real pride in their set-piece. You saw against Africa they kept the ball in a couple of times in their scrum when they had the ascendancy,” Franks said.
“So they’re never a pack I will under-estimate. They love their scrummaging, they love their forward play. They’re big strong guys, it’s a big challenge,” he said.
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