All Blacks bury Argentina with the rolling maul after strong fightback

Wallabies player ratings: Australia pulled off a staggering 38–22 victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park in the opening round of the Rugby Championship.
Gareth Steenson ‘Steeno’ is back on the side of the Irish Sea where it all started, in the green he last wore as skipper of the national U21s – and fine-tuning Ireland Women’s kicking game ahead of a hotly-anticipated World Cup.
The All Blacks have withstood a fierce Argentinian comeback in the second half to come away with a 41-24 win at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Córdoba.
The visitors went to their rolling maul regularly and profited with three tries directly from it, including two in the final quarter to Samisoni Taukei’aho which lifted the All Blacks after a strong fight back.
Having led the home side 31-10 at half-time, a resurgent period by Los Pumas saw the gap close to 31-24 before the All Blacks got away.

After a fast start from both sides, the All Blacks opened the scoring with 40 metre penalty goal after a late shot on Beauden Barrett by Santiago Chocobares.
Argentina had a chance to level the scores minutes later after Sevu Reece was penalised for not rolling away at the breakdown but Tomas Albornoz hit the post.
A counter-ruck after a dominant Billy Proctor tackle won another penalty, allowing the All Blacks to kick to the corner and test the maul. After Los Pumas held strong on the first few phases, a release to the backs led to a try in the corner to Sevu Reece after a long bridge pass from Will Jordan.
The sideline conversion from Barrett gave the All Blacks a quick 10-0 led after the first 10 minutes.
Argentina found some momentum after a regathered chip kick by Chocobares from Albornoz from a lineout launch earnt an entry into New Zealand’s 22.
After tight phases from the forwards, some ad-lib play from the backs led to sevens star Rodrigo Isgro scoring in the corner to close the gap to 10-7.
A yellow card to loosehead prop Mayco Vivas for cynical play after too many penalties handed the All Blacks an opportunity to strike back. A big spot tackle from Pablo Matera on Rieko Ioane forced the ball loose and saved the home side on that occassion.
More errors from the All Blacks attack led to a messy period with Argentina down to 14 men, while the home side’s defence lifting despite the disadvantage.
In need of a spark, the All Blacks found it through fullback Will Jordan after shifting wide from a midfield lineout.
The explosive No.15 cut back inside Chocobares and broke through the Pumas line before drawing the last man and sending halfback Cortez Ratima under the sticks for a 17-7 lead.
A lifting tackle by Rieko Ioane was penalised, allowing Albornoz to find another three points to close the gap to 17-10 after 30 minutes. The visitors really took control of the game right before half-time.
The All Blacks were able to extend their lead out to 24-10 with a try to No.8 Ardie Savea from a rolling maul, while they struck again through Sevu Reece in the corner with the clock in the red after a scrum penalty led to another chance in the corner. A superb sideline conversion from Barrett gave the All Blacks a 31-10 led at the break.
Argentina showed spirit to start the second half, working down inside New Zealand’s half with a line break to No.8 Joaquin Oviedo. From a scrum, lively flyhalf Albornoz bounced off multiple defenders to score under the posts with a brilliant run and close the gap to 31-17.
A handful of penalties shifted momentum back in Argentina’s favour, with the All Blacks’ bench suffering from ill discipline after being injected into the game. Centre Billy Proctor was yellow carded after too many infringements as Argentina pressed the goal line.
After seven consecutive penalties in a row, Oviedo reached over the defence to score next to the post as the weight of possession took a toll. Albornoz’s conversion made it a seven point game at 31-24.
After working down to the five, the All Blacks used their maul to score their fifth try through reserve hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho to restore a 12-point lead at 36-24 with 10 minutes remaining.
Minutes later Taukei’aho had his second from another maul as the All Blacks went to their set-piece strength to bury the Pumas 41-24.
The All Blacks were able to repel the Pumas multiple times in the final minutes after midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown was yellow carded.
After failing to win their Rugby Championship opener in two of the last three seasons, the All Blacks opened their 2025 account with a bonus point win against Argentina.
After the Wallabies secured a famous 38-22 win over the Springboks, the All Blacks move to top spot on the Rugby Championship ladder with a points differential of +17.

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Can’t complain too much as ABs won convincingly while identifying several areas where they still need to improve. Argies were competitive but wanting in key areas. Teams satisfaction ratings: Aussie Over the moon. Boks Despondent and in deep shock. NZ Surprised to be at the top of the log but know they still need to do better. A rgie Disappointed to lose so heavily but played with spirit and know they too can improve.

Can’t help but feel that the heavy rotation in the third French test actually ended up being detrimental to today’s performance.

Does anyone else think that Beaudy’s kicking in play was typically awful? just seemed to turn the ball over.
I also thought that mass substitution by Razor at 50 was madness, AB momentum shuddered to a halt for a long time and 1 try leaked straight away.
can’t complain about that pack, though , and as for Will Jordan, we need 15 of him.

I do – his tactical kicking is dismal and had been for several years.
We will not win anything with BB, Rieko, Kirifi and maybe Proctor

It's called consistency.
ie its always shocking.
Otherwise I thought he played well.

The scoreline looks great but it was a close match. Argentina lost by halftime when they shipped more than 30 points, their forwards were bullied a bit and at lineout/maul time they were taught a lesson all day. If they sort it out then I can see them winning next week as some of their backline moves were brilliant with Chocobares and Albornoz showing their level. The All Blacks have a lot to improve with their fluidity in their backline, not sure if it is coaching or personnel at this stage. Proctor with another below average outing, ALB getting his usual card off the bench isn’t what you want for impact. Would like to see Tavatavanawai at 12 and JB at 13 tested out for next week as well at Vaa’i Savea Parker tried out with Lakai on the bench.

Coaching, honeymoon over for Robertson.
Handling errors, tactical errors particularly kicking and again too many penalties.

A good win for the All Blacks, even though they were under pressure for much of the second half before scoring two tries from lineout mauls.
I doubt Kirifi will survive this match… there are more powerful options in the squad. Proctor was once again fairly average. The All Blacks are no further ahead at the number 13 position. A return for Rieko? Not impossible, as he was invisible on the wing. Overall, the All Blacks' backline doesn't seem any better in 2025 than it was in 2024. The wingers aren’t sharp enough (I’d like to see Leroy Carter in Game 2 alongside Love and Jordan), and no one is really claiming the number 13 jersey.
The expected returns of Williams and Sititi next week will be a boost.

Leicester Fainga'anuku at Centre is looking more likely with each passing week.

An ugly well deserved gritty grinding hard fought test win. As all arm wrestles are.
But again, I ask myself, what is the point of ALB? The guy is the ultimate dumbfck penalty magnet (with a yellow card thrown in just for fun). Seven minutes of a waste of space.
Anyway, a top of the Table start to the TRC but loads to improve (as expected).
Join free and tell us what you really think!
Gareth Steenson ‘Steeno’ is back on the side of the Irish Sea where it all started, in the green he last wore as skipper of the national U21s – and fine-tuning Ireland Women’s kicking game ahead of a hotly-anticipated World Cup.
The Springboks have an ageing squad but with careful management, continue to defy the odds in delivering clutch performances
Australia need to maintain the physicality they belatedly produced against the Lions, and tweak their defence, to stand a chance against the Springboks.
I was worried when the Boks did this against Italy that it wasn’t an intentional tapering off of effort/performance. They are absolutely getting it right though, it’s just a different sort of toe to toe battle than they’re used to, when someone does it back to them, I’d say.

Even then, they played well enough to when the game, with some fortuitous Aussie tries, but you’d not want the hearts to capitulate from that. It’s a real mental battle they’ve got on their hands now, perpetuated by their fans, who I don’t even think applauded the aussie performance on the field.

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Yep, makes Rassies selections ludicrous. They could have won that game and still got that wake up call, if they had to treated it properly.

They played well down the channels though. I’ve told you plenty of times, it’s much harder to win games with your attack. This will take time, no point reverting to type mid game.

Giving Willemse a 5 is madness. He deserves a 0 or a 1(just for participation). We needed a Willie and Fassi combo. Our backline seemed tired from the start off the second half for some reason.

Now we just made the Rugby Championship harder for ourselves.

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They didn’t need it that badly though.

On that last point, that’s what happens when you change the way you play rugby. South Africa are an expansive side now, this sort of thing happens as a result. There old “hard working” mentality is not going to help the situation, they need to see it through to the other side to where peak individuals have the skills required.

Of course this also means no more Rassie Erasmus Rotations.

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Ardie is a " come follow me " type of captain and plays with a lot of passion. We have a raft of top flight tight forwards so little problems in that area. Darry is yet another good lock who showed it for Canterbury v BOP recently. As far as first choice backs are concerned , I believe TT would be a better option than Proctor/ Ioane as he is a SOUND defender and can achieve turnovers as well as make breaks.

Well said. There is so much BS going on about Finau. He was invisible last year and he is again. Ethan Blackadder owned him in the Super Rugby Final. It is nothing short of a disgrace Ethan Blackadder is not in the All Blacks.

I think Rassie needs to drop all the fluff and trying to rotate too much and settle on a top 23 and then the Boks will improve greatly, they have so many talented players. At test level the margins are fine and a more consistently selected team will trump a rotated team, chock full of talent. As an AB fan we experienced that in 2007. The top 1% of performance you get by playing next to a familiar player and with the knowledge you are first choice. Sure, you need depth with all the injuries now days, but you should have a first choice in each position with some minor variation across the 23. I thought this may happen today. The Boks will be back though, next week will be a doozy. Just my 5 cents/rands

Scooter is a leader and grafter he goes where he’s needed. At his best in Super rugby he had Blackadder and Grace sharing the graft and particularly Blackadder making the the Lions share of the tackles freeing Scooter to run more.

We need a McCaw/ Cane/ Blackadder to Balance the Back 3. I’d like to see Blackadder @ 6, Savea @ 7 & Lio Willie @ 8. Based purely on they were the FORM players Super Rugby lose forwards.

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There were signs prior to this game which in my opinion showed the boks were not going to do well. The Bok side a few years ago would have stuck an extra 20-30 points on the scoreboard in these warm up games. Australia were under less pressure to win as well as it wasnt expected but they at least had 3 tough prep games going into this match.

Silly article from an unserious writer. Depth is crucial for tournaments and being able to adjust to opponents. The big difference I see between Razor’s team and Fozzie’s team is the ability to adjust. Too often under Fozzie it felt like the team was banging their heads against a wall expecting it to break and when the wall didn’t break they floundered. This team however, seems to be able to adjust on the fly. Having a deep bench helps with that.

Some of the Bok tackling was real sus and I couldn’t help but notice it nearly always looked like the Boks were the ones getting gassed like in Harry’s second try where was the Boks normal scramble still sucking in the big ones getting lead legs…to quote a kiwi classic” to much weights not enough speed work” maybe ?

I agree they have too many old players and this has been a serious issue with their past sides. However the player eligibility rulings at international level are still out of control and its benefitting a lot of these sides that have ‘closed the gap’ over the last 10 to 15 years.

We shall see his level. He could be a Kirifi or he could be a Sititi.

When are you going to write your fifty cents worth of nothing Benny? You must be biting at the bit 😉

I’m having a laugh at the Parker fan club.

The Boks did plenty of good stuff but got the balance of their game wrong

They started to fast and ran out of steam, the boks can’t play the fast game they just haven’t got it in them, the wallabies outside backs had them for speed hands down

You’d start Ioane!!

So glad your not a selector.