Argentina are going to have to improve both their discipline and defence if they are to bounce back against New Zealand in the Rugby Championship this weekend, warned captain Julian Montoya.
The home side were handed a 41-24 defeat by the All Blacks in their opening clash of the southern hemisphere championship in Cordoba on Saturday and meet them again in Buenos Aires, with Montoya clear where they need to improve.
“Our discipline cost us a lot of unforced errors, which gave them position and penalties. We shot ourselves in the foot with the penalties we were conceding, so when we look back on it, it hurts a lot,” he told reporters.
“After all that, credit to New Zealand. They’re a good team who took advantage of every opportunity they had, and in the final minutes of each half, they scored very easily.”
Montoya said Argentina would need more focus at crucial junctures of Saturday’s game, which will be played at Estadio José Amalfitani in the capital, after the loss in Cordoba.
“Many of our mistakes were made in the final minutes of each half, where they scored more points against us. So, those minutes are where we clearly have to do better. Last year, it was the early part of each half when they scored very easily against us. This time it was the other way around.”
Argentina fought their way back from 31-10 down at halftime to be only seven points behind with 12 minutes to go but then conceded two tries from lineout mauls to see any chance of a dramatic comeback slip away.
“Clearly, the maul defence wasn’t up to par. We have to improve, but we win together, we lose together, so we have to regroup, recover, look inward, and we’ll come back,” the Pumas skipper said.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Sonali Paul)
