New Zealand are now just 80 minutes away from writing a fresh chapter in their fabled rugby history. No country has ever previously won four World Cup titles and, conveniently, they have an extra day in which to recover prior to next Saturday’s final. Whoever they end up playing the All Blacks are going to take some stopping.
Argentina certainly had no answer, conceding seven tries and finishing a distant second in the end. Even when they are not at their absolute best, New Zealand’s ability to keep the scoreboard ticking allows them to dictate terms and their fly-half Richie Mo’unga remains the competition’s most in-form conductor.
They also have the deadly Will Jordan, whose three tries took him above France’s Damian Penaud as the tournament’s leading try-scorer. Jordan, who now has a record-equalling eight tries, would be the first to pay tribute to the All Black pack who do the hard yards but New Zealand’s point of difference remains their ability to take a higher percentage of their chances than most.
It also did no harm that the Australian referee, Angus Gardner, awarded almost every first-half decision against the Pumas, to the point where they appeared almost resigned to their fate. Refereeing is a tough job but, once again, here was an English-speaking referee seemingly on a completely different wavelength to a Latin American side. While New Zealand would have won anyway, it remains a situation that badly needs addressing.
The lopsided nature of this semi-final was also not a great look. The All Blacks may now be through to their fifth World Cup final but this was not the throbbing occasion it could have been. Knockout outcomes can never be choreographed but there was no disguising the thousands of conspicuously absent friends from Ireland. Visible among the black-shirted Kiwis and blue-and-white-hooped Argentinians were a few poignant splashes of green, trying to put a brave face on the Zombie-less reality. A semi-final involving Ireland and Wales really would have been some occasion.
The Pumas, though, were not remotely bothered about wistful Celts. They deliberately lingered in a defiant line for a few moments after the haka had ended then started brightly, moving the ball slickly and forcing an early penalty, kicked by Emiliano Boffelli. It was not quite what New Zealand had been expecting.
On a showery evening, with a greasy surface and a slippery ball, the more obvious policy was to look to the air. The All Blacks initially kicked too long but soon found their range and began to ratchet up the pressure. A series of lineout drives stretched the Pumas’ cover and deft passing put the increasingly prolific Jordan over untouched on the right.
If that felt ominous for Argentina, there was worse to come. Again New Zealand kept the ball expertly alive and this time Jordie Barrett skittled past three defenders to score. Mo’unga’s conversion drifted wide but the No 10 has unquestionably been among this tournament’s best performers.
It helped to have some turnover ball to work with. New Zealand knew the breakdown would be a key area and attacked it hard, with some success. The Pumas responded by nicking a lineout but were getting absolutely no joy or assistance from the unhelpful Gardner. Argentina’s captain, Julián Montoya, lives and plays in Leicester but even a couple of words of Spanish would have helped.
The Pumas, though, kept on coming and the All Blacks were fortunate to avoid a yellow card for killing the ball on their own line. Boffelli still landed another three points to make it 12-6 only for Mo’unga to do likewise at the other end when an increasingly exasperated Montoya was penalised for going off his feet.
For a while the one-way whistling became almost farcical. Argentina could seemingly do nothing right and almost every marginal decision went against them. It was to prove doubly costly when, in added time at the interval, New Zealand were allowed to work their way back into their opponents’ 22. Mark Telea made good yardage down the middle and Shannon Frizell ambled over to claim his side’s third try.
At 20-6 down at half-time, the last thing Argentina needed was to concede another score immediately, Aaron Smith darting through to register a try in an increasingly fine personal tournament. From that moment on it was just a question of how many as New Zealand slowly turned the screw.
Jordan, whose pace is only matched by his sense of anticipation, has a knack for being in exactly the right place at the right time and did so twice more with the minimum of fuss. Frizell, fast becoming an important cog in the All Black wheel, helped himself to a second and even after Scott Barrett was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-down there was no sense of Argentina potentially roaring back.
Not only were New Zealand able to take off many of their frontline players in preparation for the final but they even opted to finish the game with 14 men after Barrett’s sin-bin had expired. Argentina’s reward, if that is the right word, is a place in the third-place playoff next Friday. The All Blacks? Having lost out in the semi-finals to England four years ago, they now have a chance to make up for lost time.
