2023-09-22 21:54:55
The Argentines narrowly won the match against Samoa on Friday for the 2nd day of Group D of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. A small victory which gives them confidence before facing Chile on September 30 in Nantes.
Published on: 09/22/2023 – 9:54 p.m.
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Argentina, in a stadium committed to its cause, reassured itself after its inaugural defeat against England, by winning against Samoa 19-10, Friday September 22 in Saint-Étienne, during the 2nd day of group D of the 2023 World Cup.
The Pumas, who will face Chile in Nantes on September 30, then Japan on October 8, still in Nantes, can now legitimately hope to see the final stages of the World Cup in France.
They can thank their opponents for this, Christian Lealiifano and Duncan Paia’aua in the first place.
The Samoan flyhalf and fullback completely missed their start to the match and allowed Argentina, serious without being brilliant, to take the match into their own hands.
First of all, Paia’aua made the first mistake after barely 30 seconds of play. When Lealiifano’s goal fell, he did not try to contest the ball, unbalancing his goal in the air. against Juan Cruz Mallia and left his partners at 14 for the first ten minutes of the game.
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As if that were not enough, Lealiifano, in his own 22 meters, forgot to put back into play a ball recovered from a broken arm and thus returned the ball to the Argentines who did not ask for so much.
Cornered in its own half, the solid Samoan defense logically ended up giving in, Puma winger Emiliano Boffelli concluding a well-executed game launch from Argentina (7-0, 9th).
This is what separated the two teams throughout a game, far from being a peak of play, but which perfectly illustrated what separates the nations said to be in the first third from those in the second, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga in the lead.
Reliable scorers
Argentina, a “major” nation, recited its rugby, applied a simple and effective game plan, only putting itself in danger at the very end of the game, when the score was in their favor.
Samoa, intrinsically at the same level as their opponent, multiplied the risky choices, did not know how to adapt to the heavy rain, which fell on Saint-Étienne throughout the first act, having failed to There are no other solutions than to produce play out wide, even though the ball, slippery, seemed impossible to control.
Quite the opposite of the Pumas, who therefore had to reassure themselves after their first failed match against England (27-10 defeat) and who applied the recipe specific to rugby for this: a superior conquest, a clean foot game to get out from their camp, balloons carried to get closer to the Samoan line of sight. And scorers, Boffelli and Sanchez, more reliable than their counterparts (19 points scored between them).
Argentina will have to significantly raise their level of play if they wish to make a semi-final in the competition, the level reached by their illustrious predecessors in 2007 and 2015.
By playing like this, she should probably reach the quarter-finals without too much trouble and would do better than four years ago in Japan where she did not manage to get out of her group. In short, progress.
With AFP
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