All Blacks triumph over adversity

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 34

All Blacks triumph over adversity

By

RON PALENSKI,

NZPA staff correspondent

Buenos Aires

Oppressive humidity, a mediocre referee, and a more-than-willing Buenos Aires selection made life difficult for Graham Mourie’s All Blacks in their first game in Argentina yesterday, but they still managed to win by 24 points to 13.

Without the individual brilliance of Wellington’s Stew Wilson, the result could have been a lot closer. Wilson, playing his first game for New Zealand, scored two tries and was close to two others, to make him the game’s outstanding back.

The All Blacks went into the match knowing that the local team — virtually Argentina “B” — would be fired up by the Pumas’ close run against Wales. The Argentinians were fired up, but the All Blacks started sharply for a change, and had the local team defending early. The All Black pack had a hard grind, but eventually got the better of the Buenos Aires eight. The players came off the field dripping with sweat, and the big lock, Andy Haden, was still perspiring 15 minutes after the end. Low cloud hung over Buenos Aires for most of the day, and the high humidity made movement on the rugby field a gruelling task. “Because of the humidity, it was the hardest game I have had all year,” Mourie said afterwards. “I was motivated, but just could not get going.” The heat noticeably affected the loose forwards and the - backs. Apart from Wilson, some of the backs’ movements were lethargic, and to add to the problems, Greg Rowlands had an unhappy day at full-back, fumbling the ball and missing tackles.

The 19-year-old fiveeighths, Murray Taylor, began brilliantly, and 15 minutes into the match set up the game’s first try, with a scintillating run through the Buenos Aires cover defence. He was caught five metres from the line, but

passed infield to Mervyn Jaffray, who did the rest. However, later in the game, Taylor had a few problems with his handling and tactical kicking. The referee, Mr Florencia Varela, of Buenos Aires, who is a federal judge during the week, was not a patch on the Argentine referee who had charge of the All Blacks’ match against Uruguay. Mr Varela often missed infringements on both sides, blew up play for no apparent reason, and must have been looking the other way when Buenos Aires scored their first try, after 25 minutes.

The All Blacks were defending, and the Buenos Aires right wing, Ronaldo Benyon, centre-kicked. The ball was in the in-goal area when Stu Conn fell on it. However, it escaped him, and the centre Ignacio O’Farrell pounced. From the stand, it looked as if Conn had forced the ball, but the referee thought otherwise. The Argentine pack occasionally employed the eightman shove on their own putins, and Mr Gleeson said that he was pleased with the way the New Zealand eight held their own.

The New Zealanders were expecting what the Argentinians call a “swallow dive,” all eight forwards, on their own put-in, get very low and take little steps in unison, then heave upwards, buckling their opponents’ scrum. That did not happen today. Haden and John Calleson got enough ball from the line-

outs, although some of it was untidy, and the Buenos Aires side called short lineouts on its throws, to try and counteract the big New Zealand men. The local team had an advantage with throws to the back of the line, and won more ball there than the AU Blacks.

Some of the Argentinians, like the Uruguayans on Tuesday seemed to be on a fairly short fuse, and the occasional punch was thrown.

Buenos Aires’ former first-rank Puma, the prop, Alejandro Cerioni, proved a more than handy player, and hi;, try was a just reward for a tough day.

Whether he should have been awarded the try was a different matter. He had the ball in a ruck on the All Blacks’ goal-line, and appeared to “rabbit” over the line, but the try was awarded. Mr Gleeson said that he was content with his side’s performance, although he said that there were some silly mistakes. For New Zealand, Wilson (2), Ken Granger and Jaffray scored tries, and Rowlands kicked two penalties and a conversion. For the Buenos Aires selection, Cerioni and O’Farrell scored tries, and the first five-eighths Joaquin Igarzabal kicked a penalty and a conversion.