In Saint Denis,
Relentless in attack, disciplined in defense, the men in black were far too strong for the Argentines this Friday during a semi-final without suspense and passion. A lone rider. All Blacks fullback Jordie Barrett summed up: “The conditions helped us a bit. We were able to move forward and put them under pressure. They couldn’t play too much with this slippery ball. Our scrum was the basis of our game tonight. We scratched several penalties on scrums and mauls, it cut their legs a little. The Pumas actually came up against a much better disciplined New Zealand defense “Our forwards did a remarkable job in the static phases, in the mauls, they obtained a few penalties and they established their domination by maintaining the pressure on the Argentines , welcomed Kiwi captain Sam Cane. We know that in knockout matches, it is the teams that defend the best that win. We have a lot of players who like to defend. Our individual tackles are good.”
And at halftime, the die was already cast with an almost crippling gap: 20-6. The second period was a long, quiet river for Foster’s men. The Pumas narrowly avoided the heaviest defeat in a World Cup semi-final (Wales were beaten 49-6 by… New Zealand in 1987). “It was a difficult match,” assures the coach. Argentina showed a lot of passion in the first half. But I liked our patience. We were also clinical when it came to scoring on our chances. We were put under a lot of pressure but we held on. The end of the first half was super important, as was the return from the locker room. »
Forgotten the semi-final lost to England (7-19) in Japan four years ago, the ultimate reference in international rugby reached the final for the third time in the last four editions and the fifth time in total (1987, 1995, 2011, 2015, 2023)., a record. Speaking of records, winger Will Jordan brought his total to eight in the competition, joining two glorious veterans in the ranks of the best try scorers in an edition of RWC: Jonah Lomu and Bryan Habana (8 each). Well accompanied by Mark Tele’a, the winger, Jordan hovered over the Pumas defense. “They (Tele’a and Jordan) played really well, they had to,” assures Foster. Mark was strong, he defended really well and Will once again proved that he was a great finisher. It’s a duo that works well, I’m very happy with their complementarity. They are good and they will have to be strong again next week.
Against England or South Africa: “In the final, whoever the opponent is,” assures Foster, “they will be ready. I’m going to watch the semi-final, definitely with popcorn.” Since the defeat in the opening match against France, what a long way the three-time world champions have come: “That evening, we played well but we weren’t good enough. But we knew that the World Cup was not being played there, notes third row Dalton Papali’i. It was only the first match and the important thing was qualification for the quarter-finals. The last two steps were very important. » A walk of great happiness.
