Your rugby morning headlines for Sunday August 14.
Wallabies stunned by Pumas rout
Argentina turned rugby's world order on its head with a stunning 48-17 win over Australia in San Juan to round off a dramatic day in the Rugby Championship.
The Pumas followed on where under-fire New Zealand had led earlier with their own dramatic victory over South Africa by stunning the Wallabies with a seven try blitz.
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It led to stunning celebrations at the end as captain Julian Montoya and his team-mates paraded a trophy amid the kind of ticker tape scenes reminiscent from the football World Cup in Argentina in 1978.
The result means Argentina top the Rugby Championship table after two rounds of games, a development few expected. It was their biggest win over Australia, easily eclipsing a previous best margin set back in 1983.
Stunned Wallabies coach Dave Rennie lashed out at his beaten team afterwards, saying: "Massive disappointment. We had a good enough side to do the job, whoever pulls the jersey on has got to front and we weren't good enough We want to earn the respect of the country and you don't do it with performances like that."
Veteran wing Juan Imhoff opened the scoring in the first minute to set the tone, with Thomas Gallo barrelling over for Argentina's second try. Further scores came from centre Jeronimo de la Fuente, flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez, Gallo again, Emiliano Boffelli and Tomas Albornoz.
The Pumas top the table after two rounds of games, with Australia second, South Africa third and New Zealand last. It is a topsy-turvy affair that few anticipated, leading to fresh excitement ahead of the next set of fixtures towards the end of the month.
Foster future decided this week
New Zealand coach Ian Foster is set to learn if he keeps his job in the coming days after his team ended a three match losing streak with their own Rugby Championship stunner over South Africa.
The world champion Springboks failed to back up last weekend's opening day victory as they went down 35-23, although Foster's own future as boss remains up in the air.
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said there will be talks in the coming days on who leads the team into battle against table-toppers Argentina. Robinson said any decision on Foster's future is down to the Board.
"We were absolutely delighted for the team and management with the All Blacks’ performance,” Robinson said overnight. “It was an incredible performance and result in an incredibly hostile stadium at Ellis Park in the home of South African rugby so we’re delighted after the last few weeks of adversity and really challenging times that the team could come through like they did.
“We’re very proud of them, they represent everything that we know the All Blacks stand for and it was a really critical moment in the development of this team which we’re proud of. We’ll take stock, meet with management as soon as we reasonably can and debrief how the tour went and where we see things at the moment and then we’ll be in a position to comment after that time.
“We’ll be making no major further comment until that time, which is likely to be the middle part of this week coming up.”
Asked whether he would be staying on Foster himself responded: “I have no idea, I am just going to enjoy tonight. It’s never easy when you are coming off a couple of losses, but so proud. Just so proud of the effort. It’s swings and roundabouts."
England stars round on Jones
Two former England stars have rounded on England coach Eddie Jones after his recent criticism over the schooling system and the lack of leaders produced.
In separate columns for the Mail, Danny Cipriani and Luther Burrell each laid the blame for England's recent woes firmly at Jones' door and said he should be looking at himself, not the system.
Ex-fly-half star Cipriani wrote: "The reason Eddie is not getting the type of players he says he wants is because of the environment he creates with England and not the schooling system. That is an easy target.
"Eddie should look at himself rather than criticise others. The environment you create as a coach is reflected by the performance of your team and players. If a coach creates a decision-making environment which allows his or her players to problem solve, have an input on how the team is run, and is self-reflective of his or her own performance, then their side's ability to react under pressure will grow. Eddie does not do that.
"When the team loses, Eddie points the finger elsewhere. As a player, you often get dismissed as trouble if you question the coach because there is a traditional hierarchy within the game. I've been lucky in my career that some of my coaches like Shaun Edwards, Brian Ashton and Warren Gatland were open to hearing my views. Many others are not. Eddie is a coach who does not like to be questioned.
"Just look at what happened to Danny Care. He spent four years away because he confronted Eddie. Surely a coach who wants players to think for themselves would encourage two-way conversation?"
Former England star Burrell also hit out, saying in his own follow-up column: "Eddie should be looking at himself and the environment he creates with England for why his players might lack leadership.
"If you look at English rugby down the years, the World Cup-winning class of 2003 had brilliant leaders in the likes of Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Jonny Wilkinson and Will Greenwood. Many of those guys and others from that era went to private school.
"Since then, rugby has changed completely. The game is far more strategic and far less barbaric. Rugby in 2022 is about problem solving as you go. I’m not sure England have the players to do that. In my opinion, that’s because the environment created by Eddie isn’t right. That is how I felt when I was part of Eddie’s set-up."
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