This was published 10 months ago
Opinion
Pumas claim famous win with heart and nerve … and a hint of Coogee Oval
Peter FitzSimons
Columnist and authorAllez les red, white and blues!
The red were Wales, the white and blues were Argentina, and it was game on, at Marseille, for the first Rugby World Cup quarter-final!
What a stadium. What an atmosphere. Even before kick-off the noise was so strong and pulsing, you’d swear it was making the sweeping arched roof of this ultra-modern Stade Velodrome rise and fall in sonic synchronicity.
It was the first match I’ve been to in the entire World Cup where the crowd was not dominated by French, for this time, there was simply no room. Since the news broke that Los Pumas had made the quarter-finals, tens of thousands of Argentine supporters have flooded here in the last week, just as the mob from Cardiff and surrounds have been here in force.
From the kick-off it seemed obvious that Wales was a class above.
Time and again, sweeping moves in the Welsh back-line put their wingers in space and they took full advantage, constantly carving out huge tracts of lush green turf, only to be stopped, in extremis, by a hardy Argentine line that for the most part kept to the famous dictum of the Spanish Civil War: “Ellos non passaran!”
These bastards will not pass.
Argentina’s head coach Michael Cheika celebrates.Credit: AP
At least mostly.
For yes, though Wales finally put on a splendid try to veteran Dan Biggar surging in support, those seven points were little to show for the territorial and possessive dominance the men in red had enjoyed to that point.
The pace was so furious even the referee had blown a gasket and had to be replaced after twenty minutes, and though a long-range Welsh penalty took them to a 10-0 lead, it was obvious to all that Argentina were still in this!
That much was confirmed with two Argentine penalties just before half-time, to make it Wales leading 10-6.
At this point it was everything you wanted a Rugby World Cup quarter-final to be: closely contested, great movement of the ball, and desperate dashes narrowly stopped by brave men, forcing their heart and nerve and sinew ... to serve their turn, long after they were gone ... and so hold on when there was nothing in them ... except the will which said to them ... hold on!
Nicolas Sanchez of Argentina breaks with the ball to score his team’s second try.Credit: Getty
By the time the second half was fully underway, it had to be said that the Argentine crowd was on top of their Welsh counterparts, even if the same could not quite be said for what was happening on the field.
Does any crowd in the world have as many songs as the Argentines? By my count, at least a dozen times the entire stadium reverberated to different Argentine songs, always accompanied by their fans massing together and jumping up and down on the seats.
The Welsh bravely responded with their go-to chant of, “Wales . . . Wales . . . Wales . . !” but it did not have quite the same emotional resonance.
On the field, Los Pumas surged in kind and took the upper hand and with two more penalties in the first eight minutes went to a 12-10 lead. All around me, Argentine fans started weeping and when the cameras flashed to coach Michael Cheika in the box, even he looked happy, which was a world-first for this, or any World Cup.
Dan Biggar of Wales looks dejected as he walks off the pitch.Credit: Getty
But wait!
In the 57th minute, the reserve Welsh half-back Tomos Williams spots a gap, sells a dummy, and surges through like a scalded hare to score under the posts, untouched. Converted, Wales is back in the lead, 17-12!
For the next ten minutes or so Argentina seem to have the upper hand as they keep pressing the line and it seems obvious that one of their quick-silver backs, all of whom have the swagger of polo players about them, will crack through.
But nothing could be more rugby than what happens now. For you see, to break the impasse Argentina tries a tactic that I recognise from Randwick at Coogee in the late 80s. Why have eight in the pack when you can have a dozen? Get the ball into the heart of your own maul, and throw the backs into it as well, to FORCE it upfield!
And it is from just such a surge that the breakthrough comes.
Not on your life! It is the Argentina forwards who keep charging at the line as the Welsh sacrifice themselves to stop it, but in the end something has to give. Sure enough, with twelve minutes left on the clock, the squat reserve prop for Argentina, Joel Sclavi, picks the ball up from the base of a ruck to the right of the posts and takes it forward for at least four centimetres, maybe more, and gets it down!
Mis amigos, it is the rugby equivalent of Argentine soccer’s famous GOOOOOOOAL!
For this is a TRYYYYYYY! for the ages! (By the time Scalvi is 50, he’ll be observing rugby’s greatest tradition, and that try will have become a 50 metre charge filled with a chip-and-chase and side-steps, but right now it was the glory of the game: the classic prop’s try.)
Argentina lead, 19-17. Can they hold on?
Agustin Creevy of Argentina celebrates victory with members of the crowd at full-time.Credit: Getty
Wales tries everything, and in the end try too much. A loose pass sees Argentina run away with an intercept try, and the game itself, with a final penalty seeing the South Americans win 28-17.
It was a great match, and a wonderful thing for rugby to see a team that is neither Six Nations or a previous winner of the World Cup make it to the semi-finals.
As I leave the Argentina crowd is up to their 20th song. Bravo, to the lot of them, and their coach, Michael Cheika, the only dog Australia still has in this fight, if he’ll forgive the metaphor!