Agustin Creevy rolls back the years as Argentina stun All Blacks

WELLINGTON – Stalwart Agustin Creevy scored the decisive try as an inspired Argentina stunned New Zealand 38-30 in their Rugby Championship Test in Wellington on Aug 10.

The Pumas scored four tries to three to notch just their third-ever win over New Zealand in 38 meetings, with 39-year-old hooker Creevy putting the visitors in front when he crossed late in the game to hand All Blacks coach Scott Robertson his first defeat.

Robertson’s tenure opened with two tense home wins over England in July but he conceded “we weren’t good enough” as they faltered late against the committed Pumas, after leading 20-15 at half-time.

Argentina won the physical exchanges in the second half, their forward pack superbly led by flanker and captain Pablo Matera.

Matera said his team never felt out of the contest as they produced a second win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil – having achieved the feat for the first time in Christchurch in 2022.

“I kept pushing the boys, trying to give them energy, because I knew we had a big chance today and we had to take it,” Matera said.

“We had a great week of preparation, we had a plan and we stuck to it, even when the score wasn’t in our favour and got the win.”

Creevy believed his team have it within them to repeat the result when the teams meet again at Auckland’s Eden Park on Aug 17.

“We talked during the week about hitting first, we did that,” he said.

“It’s personal – I’m 39, to win in New Zealand is so important for me and the whole team.

“Now we need to calm down and win next week, we have never won two games in a row (against New Zealand) so we are going for that.”

Robertson offered no excuses for the mistake-ridden display.

“We weren’t good enough. It started from the kick-off, we couldn’t get off the back fence,” he said. “We would get ahead, but made too many errors. What we are training and doing are two different things. We couldn’t execute the plan.”

Pumas fly-half Santiago Carreras kept the scoreboard ticking over, landing seven of eight kicks at goal for an 18-point haul, including a penalty in the dying minutes to extend Argentina’s lead to eight points and seal a famous victory.

It continued a nightmare run of results for the All Blacks at Wellington’s Sky Stadium venue, where they have not won any of their last five Tests, dating back to 2018.

Argentina’s other tries came via Lucio Cinti, Mateo Carreras and Franco Molina. The All Blacks crossed the line through Sam Darry, Anton Lienert-Brown and Mark Tele’a, with Damian McKenzie converting all the tries and adding three penalties.

Earlier, world champions South Africa scored five tries to one as they crushed Australia 33-7 in the opening match of the Rugby Championship in Brisbane.

After leading 21-0 at half-time with three converted tries, they crossed twice more in the second period as the Wallabies ran out of steam in the face of a fierce South African assault.

The only Australia try came late in the match, when the Springboks were reduced to 13 men following yellow cards to Malcolm Marx and Marco van Staden. AFP