POWER AGAINST THE PUMAS
The All Black with the most to prove today
A two-week layoff after a rare loss has left the All Blacks with plenty of time for introspection — and stand-in skipper Sam Whitelock is ready to right some wrongs.
The All Blacks came under fire from all sides after falling to a 34-36 defeat to the Springboks, including from head coach Steve Hansen.
Well aware of the team’s shortcomings in that loss in Wellington, Whitelock — who steps in as captain for the rested Kieran Read — took responsibility for some of the poor decision-making as one of the squad’s senior members.
“Even though I wasn’t in charge as captain, I’m still heavily involved,” he said at the team’s captain’s run at the San Isidro Club in Buenos Aires.
“So there’s things there that I need to keep driving and it was good having a hard honest look at it and working out what was a positive and what we probably didn’t do quite right. So hopefully I can make some of those good decisions this week.”
The All Blacks outrage machine was in full gear in the long buildup to this morning’s match against an ever-improving Argentina — from questions about game management to microscopic breakdowns of missed conversions and forgone dropped goals.
But with all the fallout from a shock defeat comes a risk of overthinking things, a trap the 103-test veteran is hoping to avoid.
“I think everyone goes out there and we play a lot of rugby from when you’re little all the way through, so sometimes it’s just trusting what your gut says,” said Whitelock.
“Sometimes the feel on the field is different to what people would do sitting on the stands. On the field, it’s one of those ones [where] you trust your mates and your teammates on what they’re thinking and what they’re feeling, too.”
Beneath all the noise and what will certainly be a raucous home crowd at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani, the test might come down to that familiar battle against the Pumas set piece nous and rugged forward pack.
Whitelock says nullifying those danger areas will be important if they are to steady the ship back to victory.