Argentina wary of red cards as World Cup opener looms
A shock victory over hosts France in the 2007 tournament opener put the Pumas on a path to the bronze medal, while defeat by the French in Japan four years ago made it almost certain they would not progress from a group also containing England.
When lock Tomas Lavanini was sent off 19 minutes into their clash with the English in 2019 any chance of an upset was lost, and England's present troubles with indiscipline have sharpened Argentina’s minds.
“It’s the first time in my life as a coach that I’ve been training something specific to avoid a penalty, like lowering the height of tackles”, said coach Michael Cheika.
“It’s a big part of rugby these days and we’re practising that every day.”
Argentina had a red card under Cheika’s watch when back row Marcos Kremer was sent off against Scotland at Murrayfield last November, while England have had captain Owen Farrell and number eight Billy Vunipola suspended after dangerous tackles during World Cup warm-up tests.
Both sides will want a victory in Marseille on September 9th ahead of meetings with in-form Samoa and Japan that could complicate their routes to the knockout phase.
Cheika and his England counterpart Steve Borthwick have had to juggle with playmaking issues, more so the latter given Farrell’s unavailability for the early part of the tournament.
EXPERIENCED PAIRING
When Cheika took over from Mario Ledesma last year he was looking forward to working with seasoned pairing Nicolas Sanchez and Tomas Cubelli but injuries robbed him of the chance until Argentina’s final warm-up, a 62-3 romp against Spain.
“With their experience, not only for the Pumas but also at World Cups, they don’t need to do anything extraordinary,” Cheika said before the test in Madrid.
“They have to organise the team, take good decisions, each be clear about their roles and make the rest play better.”
The pair will no doubt play a key part off the bench, but Argentina are set to start the tournament with the settled Santiago Carreras at fly-half as he has been a regular during the Australian coach’s tenure, and Gonzalo Bertranou at scrum-half.
What Carreras may lack in fly-half nous he makes up for with incisive running, while wing or fullback Emiliano Boffelli has emerged as the successor to Sanchez, who is going to his fourth World Cup, as place-kicker over the last 12 months.
Argentina are strong in the backs, especially the back three, with players as good as Santiago Cordero and Matias Orlando missing out given stiff competition for places in a squad that includes Mateo Carreras and evergreen Juan Imhoff.
The surprise inclusion is Martin Bogado, with one cap but a true talent, as a reserve for full-back Juan Cruz Mallia, Cheika indicating he wants Carreras to focus on playing at number 10.
“In modern rugby, lots of teams use aerial play and we need a player who knows that role,” said Cheika.