We deserve No 1 status – Mccaw
All Blacks tear the Pumas apart, in their own back yard, to seal Rugby Championship and underline their superiority
NEW ZEALAND proved they are worthy world champions by overwhelming Argentina in the coastal city of La Plata to win the maiden Rugby Championship, skipper Richie McCaw said yesterday.
The All Blacks recovered from conceding an early try by running in seven to triumph 54-15 at Estadio Ciudad de La Plata and take an unassailable nine-point lead over second-place South Africa with one round to go.
A surprisingly easy victory stretched the winning run of New Zealand to 15 matches – three short of the record held by Lithuania – with Tests in South Africa and Australia next month before a November tour of Europe.
“It was one of our best performances this season,” flanker and long-time captain McCaw said of the record win by the All Blacks in seven Tests on Argentine soil.
“When we started out in the Championship the goal was to put last year behind us. We have got the tag of world champions and we needed to play like them,” he told a media conference.
“To secure the Rugby Championship was obviously the big goal and it is nice to be able to do that. We gave a performance the guys are pretty happy with. It is the manner in which we did it that was so satisfying.”
McCaw, 31, from the Canterburybased Super 15 outfit Crusaders takes a long break after the Rugby Championship – renamed when Argentina joined the former Tri-Nations this season – to try and prolong his international career.
Coach Steve Hansen, a 53-yearold who succeeded Graham Henry after hosts New Zealand edged France 8-7 last October to lift the World Cup a second time, said his team still needed to improve after its pace and power pummelled the Pumas.
“We can pat ourselves on the back and enjoy the moment, but there are still areas to improve on and one of them in the connection between the forwards and the backs.
“To be able to attack like that you must have a platform to work off so the forwards can be very proud. Our rucking was also much better than against South Africa.”
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan said his team made too many defensive errors as they conceded only one try less in La Plata than they did in four previous Championship Tests in Cape Town, Mendoza, Wellington and on the Gold Coast.
“We set out to try and do things better with the ball, but took a step back in our defensive organisation. Some of the tries stemmed from our mistakes – others from the effectiveness of the All Blacks.”
Martin Landajo, an impressive scrum-half who scored the brilliant opening try of the game, said New Zealand defended and attacked well, but believes a first Championship win is possible when they host Australia in Rosario. Earlier on Saturday, the Springboks square up against the All Blacks at the 90,000-seat Soccer City stadium in Soweto, hoping to exact revenge for a 21-11 loss in Dunedin this month when they fluffed seven of nine kicks at goal. – Sapa-AFP THE SHARKS will be looking to add a positive result to their disappointing away record in this season’s Currie Cup when they travel to Bloemfontein to take on the Cheetahs on Saturday night (7.15pm kick-off ).
While the Durbanites have remained unbeaten at home so far in the competition, they have lost their previous three matches away from home, with their last win on the road coming back in week one of the tournament in Cape Town.
Otherwise the Sharks have battled away from the coast, going down to the Bulls, Griquas and Lions.
So it’s with this in mind that they will be desperately determined to acclimatise and adapt quickly to the conditions in B loemfontein, with the Free State Stadium a formidable place to play at the best of times.
The Cheetahs will certainly pose a significant threat at home, as Griquas found out this past weekend, with Naka Drotske’s charges securing a win that has moved them off the bottom of the log.
So they will be desperate to remain out of the relegation zone, while the Sharks will have an opportunity to possibly secure a home semi-final even before next weekend’s final pool game against Griquas.
The Sharks are in second place on the standings, three points behind the Lions, but five points ahead of Western Province, although the latter does have a superior points difference.
However, the Sharks will know that they cannot afford to become preoccupied with log permutations, but they can at least rest easy knowing that they have booked their place in the final four.
And if they can get the job done this Saturday, the coastal side can then turn their attention to targeting a good win over Griquas in Durban, which should see them secure a home semi-final.
To clinch top spot, though, the Sharks would need either the Griquas or Bulls to do them a favour by beating the log-leading Lions over the next fortnight, but all they will be focusing on is controlling what they can.
Sharks coach John Plumtree (pictured) emphasised that they needed to take it “one step at a time. There are still two games left, playing the Cheetahs away is tough and it won’t be easy at home against Griquas, who beat us in the first round”, he said.
“There are still 160 minutes of rugby before we know who the semi-finalists are and where the games are going to be played. Right now, we’re a little bit closer and we might have secured a semi-final, but it’s one step at a time.”