Hansen, Read taking nothing for granted

New Plymouth – New Zealand talked up Argentina as a “dangerous” foe yesterday on the eve of their Rugby Championship Test, dismissing the South Americans’ form slump over the past two years.

After rising to fifth in the world rankings when they made the 2015 World Cup semifinals, the Pumas have since dropped to 10th.

“I don’t take any notice of those rankings. The history of this championship is they have been very tough opponents for us, even here in New Zealand,” All Blacks captain Kieran Read (right) said.

“They’re unpredictable. They’ve certainly got some players who’ve got experience in Super Rugby and at this level, so they are a dangerous side.”

Since Argentina joined the championship in 2012, in a move aimed at lifting their standard of play, they have never beaten New Zealand in 10 matches, with the All Blacks scoring 44 tries to 11 and producing an average winning score of 36-14.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen argued that Argentina were in a difficult situation with an arduous travel schedule to reach any of the top-tier rugby nations.

“They’ve gone from being a team that was spread all around the world, which has its ups and downs, to a team that were brought together and put into the Super Rugby competition,” he said.

Hansen and Read also had sympathy with the underperforming Argentines as they tried to move away from their traditional brutestrength forward game to play more open rugby.

“Through Super Rugby they’ve developed more of a rounded game and have they got to where they want to get to? I don’t think so yet,” Hansen said.

Read said it was obvious they were no longer a one-dimensional side and had threats across the park.

“Probably their ball carriers in the loose forwards are among the best in the world and their backs, on their day, are pretty dangerous counter-attackers, alongside that is the scrum and the maul.”

When the Pumas arrived in New Plymouth yesterday, captain Agustin Creevy accepted there were problems but said they were being addressed.

“We are training a lot. We know we have to improve our scrum so we can get the scrum we used to have before,” he said. –