Argentina team writing their own history with win over All Blacks
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Argentina's Los Pumas players celebrating after winning their 29-23 Rugby Championship 2025 win over New Zealand at the Jose Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires on Aug 23.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
BUENOS AIRES – Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi hailed a historic win over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Aug 23 but did not want to compare the current Pumas’ achievements with successful teams of the past.
Argentina, semi-finalists at the 2023 World Cup, beat the All Blacks at home for the first time in 16 attempts stretching back 40 years, with a 29-23 triumph at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani.
The Pumas also beat New Zealand in Christchurch in 2022 and in Wellington in 2024 as well as overcoming world champions South Africa at home in the 2024 Rugby Championship.
“We are a connecting thread in the great history of Los Pumas,” said Contepomi, who helped Argentina to their first World Cup semi-final appearance in 2007.
“As a player, you live rugby to the fullest; as a coach you try to live it in the best way possible. But this success is theirs… Los Pumas 2025. This group has already set several milestones, beating the All Blacks away, beating them for the first time here. I think it’s great. But you don’t have to compare.”
Argentina can now boast of home victory over each of the tier one rugby nations.
“It’s a huge joy to be able to do it here. It’s been done abroad before, but it’s extra special in front of our fans, who always come with enthusiasm and support. The affection of the fans is incredible, and they’re part of this win and being able to give this to them is great.”
Contepomi put the down to several factors.
“We were quite aggressive and later we were good defensively, quite tidy and we forced some offside penalties,” he said. “It was a combination of it all.
“We had opportunities in the first half to score a few tries but lack finesse. But in the end what the lads did was incredible.”
Argentina were outscored three tries (Billy Proctor, Fletcher Newell and Samisoni Taukei’aho) to two (Juan Martin Gonzalez and Gonzalo Garcia) but the All Blacks conceded that Los Pumas dominated proceedings and capitalised on a lack of discipline in Buenos Aires.
New Zealand led 13-6 with two tries in the first half, but two yellow cards before half-time helped Argentina to draw level before taking advantage of penalties conceded by the visitors at key moments in the second half.
“Test footie is tough when you get three cards and they dominate the aerial game. We just didn’t get a lot of little things to go our way, which is earned off effort. It’s that simple,” New Zealand coach Scott Robertson said at the post-match press conference.
“We put a lot into this week to make sure that we tidied up areas from last week... but we just didn’t execute well enough when we had those opportunities. They did. They were hungry, won a lot of those scraps and fed off the crowd.”
In total there were three yellow cards for the All Blacks, but Robertson suggested the decisions were all marginal.
“I have to look at them again, but those are interpretations from referees that they make at the time,” he said.
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett also conceded that his side were outperformed by their hosts.
“We were under the pump, I guess,” he said. “We had 40 per cent territory and 40 per cent ball; and with those stats it’s hard to win a Test match, when the Pumas get a roll on like that. They were a class act and we didn’t quite front up where we needed to.”
Argentina now head to Australia for their next two games in the Southern Hemisphere championship, against the Wallabies in Townsville and Sydney.
New Zealand, meanwhile, will host the world champions in Auckland and Wellington.
All four sides in the Rugby Championship have one win from two matches, after South Africa beat Australia 30-22 in Cape Town on Aug 23. REUTERS
