All Blacks secure scrappy win over Pumas
- Dave Worsley
- Aug 17, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 18, 2025
Dominant on the scoreboard but scrappy in the third quarter, the All Blacks opened their Rugby Championship campaign with a 41-24 win over Argentina in Cordoba
Ahead 31-10 at halftime, the All Blacks struggled as Argentina battled back to 24-31 as loose forwards Pablo Matera and Marcos Kremer, and hooker Julian Montoya, pushed the All Blacks hard and first five Tomas Albornoz scored a superb try.
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It took some time for the All Blacks to reestablish themselves through loose forward Tupou Vaa'i, lock Fabian Holland and replacement Patrick Tuipulotu took charge.
In the loose, Ardie Savea was in his element, and Vaa'i continued his growth on the blindside flank.
After an exchange of penalty goals to All Blacks first five-eighths Beauden Barrett and his opposite Albornoz, the All Blacks put their lineout maul to use for hooker Codie Taylor, Holland, and prop Fraser Newell in charge.
Fullback Will Jordan passed over the head of his marker for wing Sevu Reece to reel the ball in before it went over the sideline and scored in the eighth minute.
When Argentina fed their backs it was second five-eighth Santiago Chocobares who lobbed a pass to wing Rodrigo Isgro, who scored out wide.
From the restart prop Mayco Vivas received a yellow card. It took the All Blacks six minutes, but they finally took advantage after Savea, who was at his best in mauls, drove through tackles to get momentum.
The ball was moved wide through the backs, where Jordan side-stepped inside a defender to run into space and feed the supporting halfback Cortez Ratima, who scored in the 23rd minute.
Argentina's desperation resulted in them conceding penalties that allowed the All Blacks to kick deep to the corners for lineouts, twice in the last five minutes.
In the 37th minute Savea on the back of a lineout maul to cross before Reece had his second in first half stoppage time.
However the first 10 minutes of the second half were untidy from both sides before Argentina struck when replacement halfback Finlay Christie and Jordie Barrett were unable to contain Albornoz, who took advantage, running against the grain, to score under the crossbar.
As Argentina lifted the tempo of their game, and utilised more possession, the All Blacks started to concede penalties in their 22m, and the home benefited, with centre Billy Proctor infringed as Matera ran hard to the line, and was sin-binned.
From a tap penalty tt was No8 Joaquin Alviedo who put the ball down beside a goalpost to get Argentina to 24-31 down.
That proved the spark to ignite the All Blacks' response, and it was the choice to kick to the corners from penalties that, at the second attempt, saw replacement hooker Samison Taukei'aho use his strength off the maul to score and put more distance between the sides.
A carbon copy in the 73rd minute saw Taukei'aho over again to frustrate the home's ambitions.
There was still time for the All Blacks to concede another yellow card when replacement centre Anton Lienert-Brown was involved in a head-on-head clash with Chocobares three minutes from the end.
Consistency and fluidity across the game were still elusive for the All Blacks, but they showed that when they were able to gain control, they had too much skill for the Argentinians to contain.
All Blacks 41 (Sevu Reece 2 tries; Samisoni Taukei'aho 2 tries, Cortez Ratima, Ardie Savea tries; Beauden Barrett pen, 4 con) Argentina 24 (Rodrigo Isgro, Tomas Albornoz, Joaquin Oviedo tries; Tomas Albornoz 3 con, pen). HT: 31-10.
