Analyzing Argentina’s Disappointing Performance against England in Autumn Internationals

Rugby Union – Autumn Internationals – England vs Argentina- Twickenham Stadium, London, Britain – November 11, 2017 England’s Nathan Hughes in action with Argentina’s Ramiro Moyano Joya Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

While the head continues to spin crazy without fully understanding what happened at the Stade Velodrome, the images of a frayed team invaded by a succession of imbalances and inaccuracies are reiterated as if this nightmare premiere were an unbearable television loop.

Because it was one thing not to beat the patch with questions of favoritism and respect a rival that, like any team with history, would hardly face a World Cup attracted by the succession of poor recent performances, and another thing was to suffer a similar defeat against a rival quickly. diminished. But even in that failed debut in ’87 against the Fijians. To make matters worse, accumulating an incalculable amount of lost balls, knock-ons, penalties and various infractions in the scrum.

Probably the most difficult thing to explain was how for almost an entire game Los Pumas failed to make the opponent feel inferior. In no passage of the game. In any facet of the game. More than that, for much of the second half it was England who seemed to have the numerical advantage.

Enormous merit for a rival who came to the tournament with a rare streak of adverse results – including a very difficult setback against Fiji – and who, as could be expected, would hardly change his haggard face somewhat in the face of the commitment of a World Cup. Mentally and after Curry’s expulsion, it was a superlative recovery.

It’s more. That expulsion seemed to be the intangible trigger for an Argentine performance riddled with errors. As if it were difficult for us to understand why it was not possible to make a difference in the game based on that numerical advantage, Argentina gave the impression of having played with too much urgency from too early. On the other side there was extraordinary defensive discipline, impeccable use of the foot – extraordinary by the scorer Ford – and a certainty between constant and utilitarian to widen the difference as much as to accentuate minute by minute the tranquility of some and the desperation of others.

A few years ago I heard more than one wise veteran graphic editor explain that the analysis of a match should not be separated into the first and second half. That stories don’t necessarily change just because you stop by the locker room to rest for a few minutes. It works for football. It works for rugby.

Not to mention what happened yesterday in Marseille. Far from turning a new leaf, Los Pumas suffered even more in the second half than in the first. Not only did the English difference reach incredible numerical levels, but the accumulation of inaccuracies must have generated a feeling of frustration that we hope will not take too long to dissipate in the long week that remains until the next game.

Little immune to the reasonable journalistic anxiety that surfaces before a tournament of such importance, it seems inevitable to begin, so soon, to draw conclusions. Ireland played like the ranking leader that it is and invented a game that didn’t exist to beat the Romanians. Italy achieved the most categorical victory in its World Cup history against Namibia, which, at least in rugby, is only geographically neighboring South Africa. Australia was more granite than virtuous and had a debut worthy of criticism against the movingly willful Georgians: even rudimentary, they managed to blur the favorite. France gave itself a historic success in a strange match (it’s hard for me to assume that I didn’t like the local team very much). And the All Blacks opened a window that allows us to suspect that, in this World Cup, the unexpected has only just had the first of several episodes.

Returning to Los Pumas and in order not to lose focus on what matters most to us, the great challenge is to break down how one of the worst performances in a long time was achieved. Just on that special occasion. Still with time to correct the image. And even to maintain the hope of progressing in the tournament. At the end of the day, that ability to recover in the face of adversity that shone yesterday with the English shirt is a hallmark of our team.

For the rest, as Flaco Menotti often says, teams with history should never be considered lost.

2023-09-10 05:08:00
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