The All Blacks are in the World Cup final after beating Argentina 44-6 at the Stade de France this morning with a performance that will warm the hearts of their supporters and probably cooled those of the neutrals watching in this great arena and around the globe.
Ian Foster’s men were almost cruel in their ruthlessness during what was not a faultless performance after the highs of last weekend’s quarter-final win over Ireland, but it was intelligent and patient enough and far too much for Argentina to handle.
They had clearly identified that the Pumas scrum was a weakness and little by little turned the screw there.
Similarly, the ball carrying by men such as Shannon Frizell, Scott Barrett, Codie Taylor and props Tyrel Lomax and Ethan de Groot was a constant drip, drip against the Pumas defence until eventually the dam broke.
Will Jordan was the biggest beneficiary in terms of tries, scoring a hat-trick to take his tally to 31 in 30 Tests, with hard-working loose forward Frizell scoring a double and Jordie Barrett and Aaron Smith also crossing the line.
Jordan could easily have had a fourth in the final minute when Richie Mo’unga broke through but his Crusaders teammate elected to go for the line with Jordan unmarked on the right wing. It was a rare squandered opportunity.
There were echoes of the All Blacks’ quarterfinal thrashing of France in Cardiff eight years ago before their anxiety-inducing two-point victory over the Boks at Twickenham in the semifinal.
This time it has come in reverse – the semifinal a far more comfortable ride after last weekend's tense 28-24 win which allowed Ian Foster to clear the reserves bench by the 64th minute when Dalton Papali’i replaced skipper Sam Cane.
And yet, a week after conceding two yellow cards to the Irish, the All Blacks again made it more difficult for themselves than it needed to be: Scott Barrett sinbinned after 65 minutes when needlessly slapping at a ball while prone in a ruck.
To make matters worse, the All Blacks had just won a scrum 5m from the Pumas’ line and would have been odds-on to score again.
The All Blacks scored seven tries in all, in what was their second biggest semifinal victory, behind their 49-6 win over Wales in 1987.
The upshot is New Zealand are in their fifth World Cup final and remain on track for their fourth world championship. They also have an extra day to prepare to play the winner of England v South Africa, who meet at the same venue tomorrow morning.
Pumas lacked threat
This was not as controlled a performance from the All Blacks, who were a little untidy when exiting their territory in the first half, but their defence was such that, to put it bluntly, there wasn’t much of a threat coming the other way.
The Pumas huffed and puffed and occasionally dented the black line but they couldn’t break it.
And the big problem for them was they couldn’t even go back to their set piece for a foothold in the game.
The first scrum of the match wasn’t awarded until the 30th minute – Argentina’s put in and under a little pressure – and the suspicion that a previous strength of theirs has gone south was confirmed minutes from halftime when the All Blacks won a scrum with what looked like embarrassing ease.
It put them on track for their third try of the night after earlier scores from Jordan and Jordie Barrett – Frizell scoring wide on the left after Mark Tele'a somehow eased his way to within metres of the tryline – and at 20-6 the All Blacks had a firm grip of the game at halftime.
Perhaps understandably, the sustained intensity of the Ireland victory wasn’t present but the bone-shuddering tackles were – with Jordie Barrett again defending with intelligence and high impact - and the All Blacks’ set piece superiority along with their far better mauling technique would have hurt the Pumas mentally as well as physically.
The All Blacks will have to improve their exits next weekend, along with their handling of high kicks, but they are being so well driven around the field now by Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga, and the two Barretts in the backline – plus their game plan appears so well drilled – that they won’t unduly fear either England or South Africa.
After their horror show against England at this stage of the tournament four years ago, the All Blacks are very much still alive and kicking.
All Blacks 44 (Will Jordan 3, Shannon Frizell 2, Jordie Barrett, Aaron Smith; Richie Mo’unga 3 cons, pen)
Argentina 6 (Emiliano Boffelli 2 pens)
Halftime: 20-6
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