MENDOZA.– The snowy Andes appear, cutting the horizon and immediately the neurons of nostalgia are activated. It was here where the Cougars they last won at home for the Rugby Championshipit was here where they achieved the first victory in their history in the contest.
In the double timeline you traced Michael Sheika In the best Marvel multiverse style, with the 2023 World Cup in France as the ultimate goal but without ignoring the situation from game to game, the Pumas land in the 2022 Rugby Championship with Australia in the first node. The premiere this Saturday, at 4:10 p.m. at the Malvinas Argentinas Stadium, represents an unbeatable opportunity to enhance the good feelings left by the victory in the series against Scotland last month and continue to consolidate as a team.
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Thus, while the Pumas try to be reborn from their own ashes after a cycle that left wounds, they get into a dimension that after 10 years still feels distant: that of measuring Saturday to Saturday with three of the greatest powers in the world. In that context, Australia appears as the most “earthly” of the adversaries. Also in the process of reconstruction and, beyond the undeniable individual quality of its players, it suffers from some structural flaws that make it permeable.
But rugby, even with all the physical, technical and analytical preparation that it entails, is not a sport of superheroes or demigods, but of flesh and blood people. And just as playing again with the fervor of the public behind them represents a significant boost for the Argentines, the first steps of the new cycle also hinted at shortcomings that, against a team as dangerous as the Australian, even far from being a finished version, forces to raise the level to be competitive.
“We got a good idea of how the Argentine public is going to respond when we were at the Monumental this weekend,” he said. Wallabies coach Dave Rennie in reference to the match that the staff witnessed between River and Sarmiento. “It is not something that scares us. We have been playing around the world to full stadiums for a year”.
New Zealander Rennie was on the visiting bench when the Jaguares played their first home game in their history, in Vélez against the Chiefs. “It was a brilliant occasion, a great game to be a part of,” he recalled. “It was a vibrant meeting, where the public really made itself felt, on a soccer field as it will happen now, where the stands are very close to the field. We have to value that context and enjoy it”.
It will be the fifth game for Cheika’s successor against the Pumas, although the first as a visitor. The previous ones were in bubbles in Australia, two draws and two Wallabies victories. “Argentina is a better team than last year. They spent two years without being able to play at home and it was a very big challenge, in the midst of quarantines and bubbles, but after the three games they played this year you can see the confidence and quality of the team. It is a great team, one of the strongest in the forwards pack. We know what they are going to come up with after seeing what they did against Scotland”.
The best thing that Argentina showed in the July window was the emotional response to adversity. It awoke the famed Puma claw that seemed to be dormant and was the factor that decided the fate of the series. Continuing to play at home after three years of absence sustains this invaluable plus. The motivational gifts that made Cheika famous did not take long to surface.
Technical issues, where the Australian coach is equally well versed, may take longer to gauge. Repeating defensive mistakes, however, would be tantamount to giving up the game against a team that has an arsenal of elusive, speedy backs, but also youngsters who can be made to feel the pressure. And they’re driven by Veteran Quade Cooperas unbalanced as unpredictable.
The advantage of the Pumas is seen before on the side of the forwards. Cheika put emphasis on the scrum, the maul and the ruck. Easier to write it than to do it, but if it prevails there, a good part of the duel will be resolved. Not surprisingly, Rennie included six forwards among the substitutes (normally there are five) in an unusual and risky move for the Australians.
“We’re already starting to see some of the things we want. We are lucky because there are many games ahead of us”, said Cheika, who tried to minimize the fact of facing his country’s team. “Some players adapted quickly, others take longer. We are always trying to improve, while we want to be competitive match by match, mentally, physically and tactically. The objective is very clear for us: we want to put the team in a situation where they can be competitive against all the teams: the powers, those in the middle like us, and those that are developing. Because those are the teams that we are going to face in the World Cup. We have to be prepared to have the game to face all of them.”
Without Nicolás Sánchez or Benjamín Urdapilleta, injured again, Cheika insists with Santiago Carreras as driver. This time, with the return of the experienced Tomás Cubelli as a media partner. On the bench appear Lautaro Bazán Vélez (1 cap) and the possible debutant Tomás Albornoz as a replacement. Considering that both victories against Scotland were decided in the last 20 minutes, it is a factor to consider. What is more strange, then, is the absence of Gonzalo Bertranou, who had high yields in July and a long journey with the light blue and white.
Four years have passed since the 32-19 victory against South Africa in Mendoza, the last achieved by the Rugby Championship at home, which marked the highest point of performance of the national team after fourth place in the World Cup in England. Four years earlier, here too, a 17-match winless streak had been snapped with a 21-17 success against Australia, the first in the tournament’s history. In a horizontal line, 2014, 2018, 2022 stand out. Another more feverish one began to rebound in July. Follow that path.
Argentina: Juan Cruz Mallia; Santiago Cordero, Matías Orlando, Jerónimo de la Fuente and Emiliano Boffelli; Santiago Carreras and Tomas Cubelli; Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera and Juan Martín González; Tomás Lavanini and Matías Alemanno; Francisco Gómez Kodela, Julián Montoya (c) and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Australia: TomWright; Jordan Petaia, Len Ikitau, Hunter Paisami, and Marika Koroibete; Quade Cooper and Nic White; Fraser McReight, Rob Valentini, and Jed Holloway; Matt Philip and Darcy Swain; Allan Alaalatoa, Folau Fainga’a and James Slipper (c).