All Blacks v Pumas - Post Match Review

Last Saturday the All Blacks notched up there 3 win of the Rugby Championship series against the resilient Pumas of Argentina, 28-13 in Hamilton.

It was far from the All Blacks most polished performance of the year and Steve Hansen and his support crew would have been disappointed with a few aspects of the AB's game plan, however as Kieran Read said post match "a win's a win" and going forward it is certainly the most important thing.

Francis Saili in his test debut had a shaky start, dropping a sitter from DC which the Puma's pounced on and scored the first try of the match immediately. Many players in this situation would have retreated into their shell but Saili managed to brush it off and continue throughout the game taking the ball strongly into contact.

The match conditions can only be described as terrible, pouring rain basically from kick off and very heavy underfoot stifled the All Blacks running rugby game plan and gave the Argentinians the opportunity to put their physical forwards to work.

Aaron Smith played another superb game and topped it off with 2 tries, one after a fantastic Kieran Read offload, in the corner.

Overall our loose forward trio continued their form and Steven Luatua again is proving a selection headache for when Liam Messam is back to full fitness. His running game is continually growing and his work rate is complimenting a player well beyond his 4 test matches.

However the win came at a cost with Richie "Captain Fantastic" McCaw limping off in the 60th minute suffering a knee injury, later revealed to be a medial ligament strain. Gone however are the days when our skip limps off injured and the entire country goes into a panic. Sure you cannot replace a Richie and the loss will be felt but enough faith has been placed in Sam Cane that he will be able to step up to the mark.

The match up against the fierce Springboks this weekend will be an all mighty battle and one that we are all looking forward to.

I have always enjoyed watching the Springboks play, as two of the top rugby playing nations there seems to be a mutual respect of the others dominance and intensity that these games bring. 

I simply cannot wait!

All Black everything.