World Cup: New Zealand beats Argentina (44-6) and quietly qualifies for the final

Remember, that was only a month and a half ago. France was very hot at the beginning of September. The rugby world was shaking on its foundations. At the time, no one was paying tribute to those New Zealanders who were blackballed by South Africa during the final Test before the start of the World Cup (35-7).

The opening defeat to France (27-13), the All Blacks’ first in the group stage, confirmed this trend. New Zealand can never claim a fourth crown. However… this morning, the Blues haven’t been in contention for a week (sorry for the painful reminder).

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And next Saturday, Sam Cane’s partners will be in attendance to try to win the Webb-Ellis Cup again. After sweeping the Irish last week, New Zealand had no trouble disposing of Argentina on Friday evening.

The Pumas supporters never believed it because the All Blacks controlled the situation so much. Like Will Jordan’s first effort at the end of the line as Ian Foster’s men seemed to read their attack without the slightest panic or emotion (11th place).

As the Pumas became more aggressive, the All Blacks defended with all their strength (33rd place) and then calmly returned to the opposing camp to score. As in training, Shannon Frizell walked over to score New Zealand’s third try before half-time (20-6). A terrible picture, but it shows the superiority of men over ferns.

And if some optimistic Argentine fans still dared to believe it, Aaron Smith came to ease their last hopes as soon as they returned from the dressing room (27-6, 42).

A walk in the second half

For the rest of the meeting, we’ll spare you the details as the second act was a walk in the park. A nice walk in the Dionysian enclosure interspersed with three more tests.

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If we were wrong about the true value of these blacks at the start of the competition, on the other hand, the only contestant on Friday evening was highly anticipated. The performance in the quarter-finals already points to Argentina’s loss. We can rage for a long time about the draw made in the World Rugby Championship…

Within a week, all these observations will be mere details in New Zealanders’ minds. And this morning, the All Blacks must be laughing hard at the criticism they received following their pre-World Cup defeat.

Ironically, they could find South Africa in the final. This would also be expected.

Technical certificate

Saint Denis (Stade de France). New Zealand beat Argentina 44-6 (first half: 20-6). Referee: Mr Angus Gardner (Australia).

Points. New Zealand: 7 attempts from Jordan (11, 62, 74), c. Barrett (17), Frizell (40 + 2, 49), A. Smith (42), ; 1 penalty (38) and 3 conversions (11, 42, 49) from Monga.
Argentina: Two penalties from Bovelli (3rd, 34th).

yellow card. New Zealand: S Barrett (against play, 66th).

Score development.0-3, 7-3, 12-3, 12-6, 15-6, 20-6 (first half), 27-6, 34-6, 39-6, 44-6.
New Zealand.B Barrett (McKinsey, 56th); Jordan, R. Ewan (Lehnert-Brown, 61st), c. Barrett, Tilia; (S) Muunga, (M) A. Smith (Christie, 56th); Cane (Cape) (Babali, 65), A. Savea, Frizelle; S. Barrett, S. Whitlock (Retalik, 61st); Lomax (Newell, 56), Taylor (Tawakiahu, 51), De Groot (T Williams, 56).

Argentina.Financially. Bofilli, Cinti, Chocobaris (Morrone, 64th place), M Carreras; (SS. Carreras (Sanchez, 66), (M) Bertrano (Bazan Velez, 51); Kramer, Issa (Bruny, 64th), Gonzalez; Lavagnini (Alemanno, 41), Betty; Gomez Kudela (Bello, 51), Montoya (Cape) (Crevi, 64), Gallo (Sclavi, 67).

Arnaud Clergue