2023-10-20 23:01:06
2023 Rugby World Cup in FrancefileToo powerful, too fast, superior everywhere, the All Blacks devoured weak Pumas on Friday October 20 at the Stade de France (44-6). They will play their fifth final next Saturday, and will try to win a fourth world crown.
No exploits, no thrills of uncertainty. This first semi-final match between the three-time world champions New Zealand and their favorite victim Argentina (2 victories in 36 matches only), confirmed what we suspected before and during this World Cup: there were indeed two worlds. gap between the top 4 in the world and the others, grouped in the other, more affordable half of the table, due to a premature draw, carried out three years in advance by the fine strategists of World Rugby.
This Friday, the efficient All Blacks, although not 100% sparkling, still easily dispatched the Pumas who could already consider themselves very happy to be here. Certainly conquering, pushed by a Parisian arena committed to its cause – where the family of Federico Martin Aramburu, this ex-Argentinian international killed last year by members of the extreme right – came to support them – Michael Cheika’s squad was too messy up front and guilty of crucial generosity behind, to hope to reach its first world final.
The hopes of a twisted scenario lasted ten minutes. Proof of the confidence that drives these New Zealanders: instead of imitating the Argentinians who opened the scoring with their feet, Jordie Barrett favored the penalty a few moments later to better demonstrate physical superiority with carried balls. Aaron Smith finds a gap for the inexhaustible Will Jordan, who took advantage of the demonstration to score a hat-trick and overtake Frenchman Damian Penaud at the top of the players with the most tries in the tournament (8).
Barbed wire
Too cautious – perhaps they wanted to avoid repeating their numerous offensive blunders from the previous round against Wales – the Pumas played too slow, too tender when it would surely have been necessary to take more risks in the first quarter of the match. When it did afterwards, the dream had already passed. Despite everything, Argentina had some good sequences with the ball in hand, but the black curtain experienced others during the competition, and knows how to reinforce the barbed wire when the forwards opposite point their noses a meter away. the goal line.
If the Pumas kept the New Zealand camp busy in the first period, it was also because the Blacks were less prominent than usual. They who are used to starting with their feet on the ground (France and Ireland remember this) have this time struggled to escape from the Argentine vise. A timid first touch found by Jordie Barrett under pressure for a very brief moment suggested that these All Blacks could be crumbly.
Solo rider
But the group made sure throughout the past week that they had come down from their Irish cloud. They hammered out the words “caution”, “vigilance” and “respect” in front of the microphones, with the required decorum. Scrum half Aaron Smith notably recalling the “painful” memory of the semi-final lost against England (7-19) four years ago in Japan when the selection was already labeled favorite.
So the Blacks made sure to kill the match at the end of the first act. The match ends there: after 10 phases of play, a full-axis breakthrough from winger Mark Telea breaks the South American lock, for a conclusion from third row Shannon Frizell, who will give another one after returning from the locker room.
The second period is just a long, drawn-out solo ride. Especially since it starts with a new dazzling performance from Aaron Smith, once again delicious in the distribution and in the intervals on the Dyonisian lawn. Quite the opposite of his opposite Gonzalo Bertranou, although reinstated by coach Michael Cheika, who went through his game haggard, haphazard in his choices, before being replaced half an hour from time. Defeated in the scrums, dominated in the rucks and by the speed of the Blacks backs, the Argentines experienced a final 40 minutes of pure torture. The only uncertainty, ultimately, being whether they would finally succeed in flattening. Missed. Worse: even relieved of a friend at 14, the Blacks manage to flatten on a lethal counter from the racing car Will Jordan. We are now in the 73rd minute, and some in the audience haven’t even seen it. They had already left the aisles of a stadium which at the start of the match had around 2,000 empty seats.
Without being the most anticipated, to the detriment of many predictions, these 2023 All Blacks still reached the final. The fifth in their history, in ten editions. A habit. The luxury of great nations. All without losing a single player, Ian Foster having allowed himself to blow the frames at the end of the match. It won’t be too much for next Saturday. Opposite, it will be England, or the outgoing world champion South Africa, who face each other on Saturday. And this time, the matter should be completely different.
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