Auckland beaten, but Argentinian forwards reveal inadequacies

Press, 27 August 1979, Page 17

Auckland beaten, but Argentinian forwards reveal inadequacies

PA Auckland Argentina’: 26-year-old half-back, Alfredo SoaresGache, “Bambi” to his teammates, instigated the Pumas 18-13 victory over Auckland at Eden Park on Saturday. “Bambi has certainly come of age on this New Zealand tour and his two tour performances to date in difficult conditions have stamped him as a player of class. When he first played for his San Isidro Buenos Aires club in the first division nine years ago he was regarded somewhat patronisingly by his team-mates, as his Walt Disney nickname indicates. Ah that is changed now and the manner in which he initiated the second-half try by the centre, Rafael Madero, on Saturday has made him the toast of his teammates. The move began when

Soares-Gache gathered the ball in centre-field broken play and sent out a well executed but difficult pass to his outsides.

The captain and fly-half Hugo Porta, the full-back, Martin Sansot, and the centres Marcello Loffreda and Rafael Madero, took part in th.; move which ended 50m downfield when the latter touched down handy to the posts. Cache’s contribution did not end there. He hounded his opposite, Richard Dunn, so closely throughout the game that the Auckland inside back pairing of Dunn and the fly-half, Mike Richards, committed many enforced errors. The victory showed- the ability of the Puma backline to capitalise on secondary phase situations but showed up some real inadequacies in the pack of the flanker. Hector Silva. The Auckland coach, Mr Brian Craies, said after the game that “the myth of Argentina’s forward supremacy has been shattered.” The remark was uncomfortably tr e for the Pumas with two matches against New Zealand coming up next month. With All Black lock, Andy Haden, in good form against Marcos lachetti in the middle of the line-out and the No. 8, Maurice Trapp, getting his share of ball at the back, the home side won the count in this department by about 21-17. Alejandro lachetti at number two in the line-out had slightly the better of John Allen but the Pumas were

comprehensively beaten by a tightly-bound, hard-driving Auckland pack, 11-4, in the rucks and mauls. There was further cause for-concern for Argentina’s coach, Mr Luis Gradin, in the fact that Auckland managed to contain the mighty heaving power of the lachetti brothers and Gabriel Travaglini at No. 8 in the scrums. In spite of the obvious deficiencies up front, the Auckland full-back, Bryan Williams, who played his 100th game for his province wearing a gold jersey in the fixture, praised the visitors’ effort in coming back into the match after being points down half way through the second spell. “It takes a team of character to do that,” he said. Unfortunately New Zealand rugby’s most experienced international back did not have the happiest of games. He was tested by a series of high kicks from Porta early on and an early -ball he failed to gather cleanly rebounded into the waiting hands of the ever-present flanker, Tomas Petersen, who forced his way over the line to score a try to the right of the posts. Auckland had the winning of the match until the final quarter but let the game slip from its grasp by allowing the talented Argentinian backs to run the ball from secondary-phase situations. While Porta’s men found plenty of gaps to run through among their Auckland opponents the New

Zealand Colts second fiveeights Mike Mills, was the one member of the home team’s back-line to reveal any penetration. It was a Mills break which led to All Black winger, Gary Cunningham, scoring Auckland’s one try in the fiftieth minute and the effort put the home team into an encouraging lead. It was a lead which was to be squandered by some indecisive defence from Auckland as the Argentinian back-line set about making up for the deficiencies of its forward pack. Mr Craies was upset with “some silly mistakes” made by his players in the final quarter of the match. "Many times we made the wrong tactical decisions, particularly kicking when we should have passed. We made the full-back, Martin Sansot, look very good,” he said. Mr G.adin too had his reservations about the game. “We must learn to ruck and maul. Any team from now on will beat us unless we can improve in secon-dary-phase forward play. “Today we were up against a well-drilled pack which outplayed us in the first half,” be said. Scorers.—Argentina: Rafael Madero, Tomas Petersen tries, Martin Sansot 2 penalties. 2 conversions, 18. Auckland: Gary Cunningham a try, Mike Richards two drop goals and Richard Dunn a penalty, 13. Half-time score: Argentina 9, Auckland 6.