In-control Hansen expects a ‘goodie’ against Pumas in Hamilton

THE All Blacks head into the gap week in the Rugby Championship firmly in control of the southern hemisphere competition and eager to face a resurgent Argentina in Hamilton on September 10.

Steve Hansen’s side avoided getting too sucked into the niggly tactics by the Wallabies in their 29-9 victory at Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday, scoring four tries to none to record their second bonus-point victory.

The world champions have the maximum 10 competition points, with the Pumas and Springboks on five points after they shared the honours in their two clashes, with Daniel Hourcade’s team claiming a 26-24 win in Salta on Saturday.

“It’s going to make our Hamilton game a goodie isn’t it?,” Hansen told reporters yesterday. “They were pretty unlucky last time,” he added in reference to the Pumas’ last-gasp loss to the Springboks in Nelspruit last week. “They were right in the hunt until the last few minutes.”

Hansen’s team have never lost to the Pumas, but have been pushed extremely close in their last few encounters, particularly in their opening game at last year’s Rugby World Cup.

Such was the closeness of that result, the All Blacks only won 26-16, that many pundits in Britain started to write off Hansen’s side without giving the Pumas the credit they deserved.

Argentina eventually finished fourth in the tournament as all four southern hemisphere sides made the semi-finals.

The Pumas have effectively spent the entire year together since, with the majority of their players turning out for the Jaguares in the expanded Super Rugby competition this year.

Hansen now has the luxury to take a deep breath for the next few days before his side reassemble next Sunday for their clash with the Pumas.

He said there were no injury concerns from their clash with the Wallabies, with hooker Codie Taylor and inside centre Ryan Crotty expected to be available after they suffered head knocks in the 42-8 win in Sydney.

Both could have played the Wellington game, he said, but team management chose to err on the side of caution.

Midfielder George Moala is also expected back in time for the September 17 clash against the Springboks in Christchurch.

Despite the return of midfielders Crotty and Moala, the performance of debutant Anton Lienert-Brown on Saturday earned plaudits from Hansen and his fellow players.

The 21-year-old impressed with his calmness against the Wallabies and his deft handling set up Israel Dagg’s first try.

“Talent-wise, skill-wise, I thought he stood up,” Hansen said. “He’ll grow from the experience and he’s got a pretty bright future. He played with a lot of confidence and that’s a credit to him and the people around him,” he said.

The victory extended New Zealand’s hold on the Bledisloe Cup to 14 years.

Hansen told SKYSport it was pleasing to do it in two games.

“They threw everything at us, as we knew they would, and there was a bit of niggle and we just had to make sure we didn’t get caught up in it and kept our frustration tolerance high and just tried to play rugby.

Double try-scorer Dagg said: “The whole team played extremely well. It was tough out there, we had to dig deep and we got there in the end. Dagg said there wasn’t a lot of difference playing on the wing instead of fullback. The back three worked at helping each other and the only difference had been he was on the end of the chain instead of two-in.

Lienert-Brown said it was good to enjoy the moment of making his Test debut and to be part of what he said was such a great team. “I just feel so privileged to be around these boys, it’s a dream come true.”

All Black prop Owen Franks has been cleared of eye-gouging allegations from the match. – Reuters and ANA