The Autumn Nations Series offered the opportunity to test the depth and vulnerability of the game patterns observed during the last Rugby Championship against those of the Six Nations teams. Many will say that they are not comparable, but it is worth exercising a little.
The numbers show that the Rugby Championship teams won only 38 per cent of their matches, but achieved an advantage of six tries or 14 points over the Six Nations.
When we focus on Argentina we see that the ratios of tries and points for / against are negative as a result of the loss of two out of three games played.
Looking in detail, one of the items that deserves further analysis is group cohesion, which builds team performance in the medium term.
Argentina employed 32 men in Autumn Nations, 88 per cent of whom reside outside their country of origin and 53 per cent have less than 30 caps of experience.
Although this speaks of a team in training, it is also a symptom of a cohesive record weakened by the lack of group interaction, perhaps caused by the need for sanitary isolation.
Another important factor in strengthening cohesion levels is the structuring of the creative axis in Los Pumas. In TRCH2021, four different combinations were used for the 9-10 axis and in Autumn Nations the Cubelli-Carreras duo was consolidated as starters, aligning Argentina’s attack structure to the dominant skills of these players.
Santiago Carreras is not only a much more intuitive and accurate kicker than Nicolás Sánchez, but also an insightful attacker in the short transition zones. But Sánchez leads Carreras in conducting the phase game and in defensive attitude.
This uncharacteristic competition situation, which directly affects Argentina’s performance, is due to the planning designed by Mario Ledesma for Rugby World Cup 2023, which so far has not fully matured.
Argentina has been developing its kicking game in accordance with the reformulations of the game plan imposed by Ledesma.
Thus, the kicked possession indicator has gone from 27 per cent in Rugby Championship 2021 to 37 per cent in Autumn Series, as kicks have been incorporated as a fundamental element of defensive play.
Argentina has a lot to improve on this point. Although the reception of the opponent’s kick is positive, the response associated with the return of the airplay is not appropriate, since the persecutors generally did not coordinate the sequence with the kicker in charge of returning the action.
This is something in which South Africa shows total solvency, combining body language with voice communications in the park between the tenth and the 15th. In the video that follows we can see this recurrent lack of coordination.
Another unsolvable aspect for Argentina was the excessive lateralisation of the semi-attack game. As a result of this trend, we can see that Los Pumas required an average of 16 carries to breach the opposition 22 in the Autumn Series.
The direct correlation in tries scored after exceeding the opponent’s 22 shows a 42 per cent effectiveness. This is therefore nothing so different from the game presented by Jaguares in SuperRugby.
The format of this article prevents us from delving into some aspects of the game. As a summary we could say that defensive planning relegated attack variants and limitations to the model implemented by Argentina (13-2 and 12-3) ended up exposing it to the vertigo of Ireland but also to the relative caution of France in Autumn Series.
If Los Pumas don’t improve on the more intermittent aspects of their game, they could sink into the harsh winter that invariably follows fall.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Personally, against solid teams I prefer a closed 12-3 defense and a 3-3-2 attack with good use of status changes, surprising. It is a key factor. I love the playmakers who make disruption a key factor.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Hello Pundit ...! I appreciate your comment and I share it: if ARG persists in its attack model, it should test some RSA variants, basically the kicking Game ones.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
What does this mean? Denial of what? I am not the only one who doesn’t understand your posts. Many have stated this here. If you are unwilling to get that message, that is your issue. Not mine.
Pundit
Roar Guru
Apart from communication, ARG can also learn from how RSA attempted to attack(and also learn from RSA's mistakes in failing to capitalise on the breaks that their key playmakers create). Sanchez has a booming boot which is extremely useful. Also, i think copying some of SA's plays would help, with a class pass from 10 to get outside the defence being the cornerstone of their wide strikes. Le Roux tends to chip in the 15 m zones, and this can be replicated to a decent degree with a 10/15 of Sanchez/Carreras https://imgur.com/kwfS90q For all the talk of misfiring options on attack, i think this instance can prove it all wrong
Pundit
Roar Guru
yeah i think Cooper/Marcus Smith is good for exploiting a defence, while the likes of Farrell/Lolesio are better for striking holes(which must be there in the first place). Eg Marcus Smith and Cooper lead their respective attacks to beat the Springboks-because of their short ball and fluidic interchanging playstyle. On the other hand, Pollard, Biggar, Sanchez are somewhere in between…. These guys excel on high quality individual phases with great passing/kicking and extremely good accuracy….but they have the vision and anticipation to build as well. They are pacey but not lightning quick, while they are less subtle and more sharp & direct. Concerning Argentina, they need to recognise that to build a team you need the constructive attacking 10 instead of the transitional attacker, and thus the passing and creating game is more important than the individual running game. Sanchez, like Pollard/Biggar are very good in bringing runners onto the ball and taking structured options, but isn’t so much of a transition wide striking attacker. He has some positive passages for Argentina, but he kicked way too much to be effective. They need to have a strong momentous structure because the 1-3-3-1 is becoming increasingly outdated. It’s either crash through or wide-to-wide, as compared to the 1-3-2-2, or a 3-3-2, where the decision-makers can use the quality of pass to select the runners. Against a lower-level team a transition attacker is better, while against structured defences you need a structured attacking game(as Sanchez demonstrated)
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Thanks Pundit ..! According to your analysis. I'd like to add an important point: As defenses hone their performance, playmakers must 'redesign' their abilities. This adaptation is permanent and complex, and apparently no "10" would escape this situation. Shortly before # RWC2021, the rearrangements are in full swing: Lolesio or Cooper ..? Farrell / Ford or Marcus Smith ...? Sanchez or Carreras ...? The future of the defenses would indicate the future of the attacks.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Carlos, it's a shame that you can't share experiences of any kind: a clear denial. Greetings.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Thanks Harry...! ´The rod has been set very high´ (we say in Argentina) and I like that. Greetings...!
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Thanks Just-Nuisance ...! I have found a different way to present the contents. It only remains for the editors of The Roar to agree. All the suggestions made as well as the criticisms made have earned their place in my work. I send you my regards, and thanks for communicating ...!
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Hi Francesco..Actually I read your article few days ago but only decided after mulling on some responses to comment myself….Firstly its so important that guys like yourself , No Brain and Carlos continue to present the Argentinian perspective ..They form a vital part of the Rugby Championship but probably a bit under represented here .. So strength to you..I also agree with Harry ..The performances of Argentina this year can be attributed directly to external influences .. Living in a constant bubble surely no joke.. South African cricket captain , Quentin De Kock experienced a full blown mental breakdown and reports from other players were that they were on the brink of it themselves ..and they only had to endure a small fraction of what the Argentinian Rugby team had to….South Africa is a multilingual country and on a daily basis we interact with others who may struggle with the particular language spoken.. Its also deemed extremely rude to criticize someone who may struggle a bit communicating in your home language but not his or hers ..Just not done..But I will also be dishonest if I didn’t tell you that your article is for me at least , a tough read ..That imo probably limits the number of responses its content actually deserves ….So possibly taking on board Biltongs suggestion of simplifying things slightly may be a very good idea :thumbup: ..look forward to the next episode..Cheers…
Pundit
Roar Guru
Hi FR, insightful and complex article, your comparison between Sanchez and carreras is very interesting: Sanchez is a classic 10-think Johnny Wilkinson: strong distribution, traditional kicking game, natural eye for space. Carreras is a wild card-like Damian Willemse for the Boks:Big boot, agile broken play strike. The attributes of Carreras resemble a quality 15 more..... What they can learn from the Boks is to use a distributor at 10 and play flat (or dovetail) of first receiver. The Boks really implemented a proper attacking structure in the autumn, which means the 10/12/13/15 are fixed as a combo to execute the explosive sharp plays they use.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Harry, you have to add to that the very long list of reports of "possible" (?) verbal abuse by Ledesma to his players. When there are so many reports coming in you start to wonder if they are true. His demeanor during press conferences, the arrogance of his answers, makes you believe that there may be something there. Smoke on the water as some old rock band wrote. Players are loath to bad mouth the head coach, but...
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Of course it is! My last one too.
Harry Jones
Expert
Your first language is rugby.
Harry Jones
Expert
The experience of the Argentine players from 2020 to 2021 is almost unbelievably strange, and will only be understood long after the fact. Yes, there were payoffs (2020 win over NZ) but it is not clear if it the entire thing was worth it, because mental health is no joke. Has any team in any elite sport played that long away from home, in a bubble, without true R&R?
Harry Jones
Expert
Keep at it, hermano! We tend to improve as we get more caps.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Descendants. Speak not speaks. Your and my experiences appear different. It happens. Maybe it’s a time issue as I left a long time ago. :silly: Again, my issue with his notes remains in Spanish too. I don’t understand what he is trying to communicate. :silly:
Poco Loco
Roar Rookie
Hi Carlos, please do not take me wrong, I am not trying to disparage Argentina. Yes there is a small percentage of the population in Argentina who speak English well. You have your bilingual english schools like St Andrews which teach the UK GCE curriculum and where only English is spoken in the mornings so there is and there is great fluency in the language. However even for them the translation to writing plain English is difficult. My partner who is a translator went to St Andrews but when she came to Oz and to uni here, the comments from leturers was, why do you write so complicated, what does this mean because she was using clauses and sub-clauses and Spanish syntax. When I say flowery, I mean it in a positive way, where many adjectives, clauses and sub-clauses are used in the composition of the sentence as it is in the Latin way. I have bought a few books on Tango from BsAs in English and the translation from the Spanish is similar to the way Francesco writes. As I said I only ever hear gringos speaking it in the street. Any Argentinians I have met apart from my partner only speaks halting English and none speak it at home. Most who speak it at home are desendents of English speaking migrants as it is for Germans. There are possibly some whose parents are English teachers. So Carlos, I can only come to this from my personal experience. Saludos.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
I’m glad you made these observations in my 12th post, because if you had been in the first one, I would have stopped on the path that led me to interact with most of you today and here. I wonder what would happen if we were on tour in a foreign country and 5 players from the host country who spoke another language wanted to join us for a friendly rugby match. Would we accept them and share in any case what rugby gives us to live and enjoy …? I think so and that we would do what it takes to coordinate the game and win it. That is why I continue to celebrate all the comments and contributions that I have received today, because they enrich and because openness and the effort to understand new situations is part of the engine of every analyst. My commitment to improve continues. Greetings to all…!
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
That's right Rhys ...! You went straight to the point. We shouldn't have that problem but we do have it living with us. For many years we had low effectiveness in the breakdown because we did not have the necessary skills to achieve it. Once we reached them, things got interesting. Currently indiscipline is the main cause of failure in our breakdown, with 9% of all rucks penalized (21/242) en #AutummNations.