England v Argentina preview: Forward-thinking but one-dimensional Pumas pose set piece threat
The stage is set and England know exactly what to expect from Argentina in Tokyo on Saturday.
The significance for the Pumas is clear. They need to do what they haven’t done in the last nine meetings and 10 years: beat England.
Do that and their narrow opening 23-21 World Cup defeat by France might not prove fatal. But if they fail they know their tournament will effectively be over, hence hooker Agustin Creevy’s description of the match being “like a final for us”.
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While the significance of the game is obvious to anyone looking at Pool C, with England top and France second following their 33-9 win over USA today, the nature of the match-up was relayed by Creevy’s other turn of phrase. “Saturday is going to be like a war,” he said.
Rather than being a thinly-veiled reference to the Falklands conflict, the hooker, who will win his 88th cap and become his country’s most experienced player in Tokyo, was referring to Argentina’s modus-operandi.
“I think the battle with the forwards will be the game,” he added. “We need to win the scrum, win the line-out, win the maul, win the contact and win the breakdown.”
Old-school
Argentina’s focus on the forwards stems from their head coach. Mario Ledesma is a former Pumas hooker, who won 84 caps and was nicknamed “Super Mario” after playing in 18 World Cup matches at four tournaments between 1999 and 2011.
After retiring, he held roles as forwards coach at Stade Francais and Montpellier and set-piece coach at Australia. His expertise, background and self-confessed “old-school” approach is reflected in his side’s strengths.
The Pumas have scored six tries at the World Cup so far and four have come not from a clinical winger, explosive centre or nimble full-back but from hooker Julian Montoya.
Lock Guido Petti and winger Santiago Carreras got the others, but analysis of their scores shows a fairly one-dimensional attacking game.
At the centre of their approach is the catch-and-drive maul from line-outs. Both tries against the French and the first two against Tonga were a result of the tactic, with three employing straight-forward body position and brute strength.
Lacking creativity
Montoya’s opening score against Tonga showed they have an inventive side too, though, the Pumas dummying a catch-and-drive before switching it back to the hooker on the blind side to score in the corner.
Considering their only try from the backs so far came via a Carreras interception against Tonga, who then kept them pointless in the second half of their 28-12 win, it’s fair to say the Pumas aren’t exactly brimming with confidence and creativity.
That’s hardly surprising as the victory over Tonga, which came courtesy of a first-half set-piece blitz and Montoya hat-trick, was Argentina’s first in 11 internationals.
Although most of them came against the difficult opponents of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, and many were closely fought, a must-win contest with a well-rested England side in the humid, slippery conditions of Tokyo represents a hard ask for the Pumas.
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