All Blacks beat Argentina to reclaim top world rank
Ahead 31-10 at the interval, New Zealand held off a second-half fightback from the Pumas in Cordoba and ultimately emerged victors by scoring six tries to three.
The All Blacks clinched the world number one ranking for the first time since 2021, leapfrogging world champions South Africa, who were stunned 38-22 by Australia in Johannesburg in the tournament opener.
Winger Sevu Reece also scored a double for the visitors while fly-half Beauden Barrett kicked 11 points and was a controlling figure with his tactical kicking.
Barrett's opposite Tomas Albornoz scored 14 points, including a try, but the Pumas were unable to end their winless record on home soil against New Zealand, which stretches to 15 matches.
The result continues an unbeaten start to the year for the All Blacks, who swept France 3-0 in their June home series.
Advertisement
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett said he was pleased with the result but conceded his team had only played well in patches.
'We talked about starting well, and I think we did that. We finished the second half quite strongly — it was a bit of a statement there,' said Barrett, whose team fell away badly in the closing stages of several Rugby Championship matches last year.
'In the second half we were a little bit slow and probably a little bit of indiscipline fed their game, which was disappointing and allowed the crowd to get in behind them.
'They threw a lot of punches at us and I'm pleased the guys who finished the game were able to win some arm wrestles, get some territory and most importantly come away with a good win.'
Reece scored the opening try after an early Beauden Barrett penalty before Argentina responded, when pressure created an overlap for winger Rodrigo Isgro.
Pumas prop Mayco Vivas was shown a yellow card for a professional foul, and New Zealand capitalised on their one-man advantage.
Fullback Will Jordan sliced through on the halfway line and sent scrum-half Cortez Ratima clear for the best try of the match and a 17-7 lead.
The visitors took control late in the first half through a try to back-rower Ardie Savea — arguably the game's best player — followed by Reece's second score.
Albornoz kick-started Argentina's second-half rearguard with a tackle-busting try.
New Zealand lost centre Billy Proctor to a yellow card, and the home side closed to within seven points through a try to back-rower Joaquin Oviedo.
However, All Blacks replacement hooker Taukei'aho sucked the energy out of the crowd by barging across to score twice in the last 12 minutes.
The teams meet again in Buenos Aires next week.
– © AFP 2025
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Dannah O'Brien needs to be all kinds of everything for Ireland at World Cup
An Irish team, a World Cup, and an over-reliance on one out-half that is leaning into the realms of the uncomfortable. Stop us if you've heard this one before. Ireland's men's team went through three successive four-year cycles with Johnny Sexton as the top dog in the No.10 jersey. Ian Madigan, Jack Carty, Joey Carbery and Jack Crowley all scrambled about for any scraps that fell from the table. It was a dependence that came back to bite them. All of them. In 2015 when an undercooked Madigan had to fill in for an injured Sexton, four years later when an inexperienced Carty was picked against Japan and, arguably, in Paris two years ago. Would Crowley have been left on the bench in that classic quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks had he travelled to France weeks earlier with a bigger body of work than the measly six caps he had managed in the green jersey up to that point? And now to the tournament starting in England this week. Ireland's women kick off their 2025 World Cup against Japan in Franklin's Gardens this Sunday with Dannah O'Brien assuming the Sexton role in terms of her prominence and importance in terms of what it is the team does and hopes to achieve. The Carlow woman is different in that she is no veteran. Still only 21, she made her Test debut in Japan three summers ago, shortly after her Leaving Cert and on the back of a surprise call-up at a time when she was paving footpaths in Dublin with her dad. Now O'Brien has started 22 of Ireland's last 25 games and she came off the bench in the other three. Impressive stats, but problematic, too. It means that Nicole Fowley, the other recognized ten, has started just three games in that time. Fowley's last was in the 2024 Six Nations and her readiness for a role in England in the coming weeks hasn't been helped by a watching brief in the two warm-up games against Scotland and Canada due to what is believed to be a minor injury. There are others in the squad who can and have played the role. Enya Breen filled in at ten for a bit against Wales in the recent Six Nations and Stacey Flood started out at out-half with Ireland before migrating to full-back. All eyes, then, are firmly on O'Brien. 'Dannah is a leader, and she carries herself so, so well on and off the pitch,' said tighthead Linda Djougang. 'She has such a massive role to play, but she doesn't look like it. It doesn't scare her. She is well, well, capable of it and she shows that. 'She's a player that you can always back up in the game. And to be honest, it's her first World Cup. It's our first World Cup. There is going to be a massive pressure, but it's nothing that I worry about. I know that she knows that we all have her back. 'We know that she will perform, because she always does.' O'Brien's run of games speaks for her durability, which will be tested at a World Cup, but the defining part of her play to date has unquestionably been a kicking game that head coach Scott Bemand rates as good as any he has seen in the women's game. And Bemand spent eight years working with the Red Roses. O'Brien, to use the vernacular, has a mighty boot. That left peg has allowed Ireland to slip free of tight situations deep in their own half time and again, and her accuracy off the tee is a huge difference-maker in the women's game. Ireland's kicking coach Gareth Steenson has described it as her 'super strength' but it's hardly a surprise that a player in their early 20s and in such a key position still has a way to go in utilising that weapon, and others, to best effect at all times. Finding distance up the park is all well and good, but it will have to be done judiciously against the likes of New Zealand or France with their respective back-three strike threats, and there have been both standout and sobering days when shooting at the posts. Ireland have three live candidates at nine, at least four quality operators for the centre slots and a back three unit that is electric on paper but one that is probably still under-utilised. Plenty still to do, then: for the team and for their maturing No.10. 'Since I've come here she's just growing all the time,' said Steenson this summer. 'It's a confidence piece. I'm even seeing it in how she carries herself around the room, how she talks, how she communicates with the rest of the players, which only adds to that kicking element.'
The 42
11 hours ago
- The 42
South Africa ring the changes after Australia defeat in Rugby Championship
SOUTH AFRICA HAVE made 10 changes to their starting team for their second Rugby Championship match against Australia at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday. Head coach Rassie Erasmus announced the new-look team on Tuesday and said the Springboks were determined to 'get things right' after their shock 38-22 defeat against the same opponents in Johannesburg last weekend. Four of the changes were because of injuries to captain Siya Kolisi as well as wings Kurt-Lee Arendse and Edwill van der Merwe and flank Pieter-Steph du Toit. Centre Jesse Kriel, one of five survivors from the Johannesburg defeat, will captain the team for the second time in his career. Prop Ox Nche, who also played last Saturday, will be vice-captain for the first time. Advertisement 'We lost four players to injury, which obviously had an impact on a few of our selections but we also know where we went wrong against Australia last week,' said Erasmus. The Springboks opted for experience with Willie le Roux at full-back and Handre Pollard at fly-half, while Damian de Allende has recovered from injury and will reunite with Kriel in one of South Africa's most successful centre pairings. Le Roux, Pollard and De Allende have a total of 271 caps between them. There is also a return to a 6-2 forwards-backs split on the bench with Erasmus able to call on a powerful back-up tight five which includes lock Eben Etzebeth, South Africa's most-capped player. Erasmus said he was expecting another physical battle against the Wallabies, who recovered from being 22-0 down after 20 minutes to secure a six-tries-to-three victory last week. 'We are still hurting from that result and the coaches and players are extremely disappointed with the way we played last week,' said Erasmus. 'We know we didn't play according to our standards in the second half and we must rectify that.' South Africa (v Australia) (15-9) Willie le Roux; Canan Moodie, Jesse Kriel (captain), Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe; Handre Pollard, Grant Williams; (1-8) Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx, Thomas du Toit; RG Snyman, Ruan Nortje; Marco van Staden, Franco Mostert, Jean-Luc du Preez. Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Boan Venter, Wilco Louw, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. – © AFP 2025
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson expects beaten South Africa to revert to ‘DNA'
New Zealand coach Scott Robertson says his side will not alter their approach to playing South Africa in light of the Springboks' surprise capitulation to Australia at Ellis Park in the opening round of the Rugby Championship . South Africa's 38-22 loss at their Johannesburg stronghold stunned the rugby world while putting their Rugby Championship defence on shaky ground before a potentially decisive, two-Test tour of New Zealand next month. The Springboks have tried to move to a more expansive, ball-in-hand game style away from their usual strengths of physical dominance and tactical kicking, but Robertson suggested it may not last. 'No. We know how they're going to play – they'll play to their strengths. It's just their DNA. READ MORE 'It's about how you stop them, but also how you play your own game.' After conceding a 22-0 lead, Australia ran in six unanswered tries to beat the hosts at Ellis Park for the first time in over 60 years and trigger renewed optimism under coach Joe Schmidt . Robertson, however, declined to conjure even faint praise for the Wallabies, saying he was more focused on the All Blacks' second Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires. 'It was a game of small moments – a bounce of the ball, a pass. South Africa played beautifully for a long period, and then it just turned, didn't it?' he said. 'It shows how discipline, accuracy and limiting errors can change things quickly. 'I'll turn the page when we get past this week and we'll start talking about those teams,' he said. The All Blacks saw off an Argentina fightback to win 41-24 in Cordoba last Saturday despite a lack of cohesion in the backline at times. Rieko Ioane's move to the wing and Billy Proctor's promotion to starting number 13 remain under the microscope, with neither dominating their positions. New Zealand head coach Scott Robertson. Photograph: Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images Robertson defended both players, saying Ioane was getting better every week and calling for patience Proctor, who has played only five Tests. 'He's a long-term project, and we're sticking with him,' he said of Proctor. Lock Patrick Tuipulotu may not play another Test in the Rugby Championship after suffering a facial fracture against Argentina while centre Anton Lienert-Brown is out of the second match after failing concussion protocols. Tuipulotu was taken to hospital after the win last Saturday and will need surgery on his return to New Zealand. The 32-year-old is expected to need six weeks to recover after surgery, leaving him scrambling to be fit for the last Rugby Championship Test against Australia in Perth on October 4th. Lienert-Brown will join him on the plane home after failing a head injury assessment, New Zealand Rugby said in a statement on Tuesday. The veteran centre earned a yellow card after a late clash of heads with Santiago Chocobares in Cordoba. Robertson's squad has cover in both positions, with Josh Lord a potential replacement at lock and former Fiji under-20 player Timoci Tavatavanawai a midfield option. Robertson said loose forward Wallace Sititi and prop Tamaiti Williams should be available for Saturday's second Test in Buenos Aires after missing the Cordoba opener and the entire France series due to leg injuries. With a few uncapped players in the squad including halfback Kyle Preston and flanker Simon Parker, Robertson suggested more changes may be on the table to build depth. 'Some guys need football and they need to play together to get high cohesion,' said Robertson. 'You need to give guys opportunities to build depth for now and this rugby cycle.'
