After New Zealand's stunning loss to Argentina on home soil last week, they face Pumas again in Rugby Championship on Saturday; Head coach Scott Robertson focused on 'redemption'; Watch New Zealand vs Argentina, Australia vs South Africa live on Sky Sports Action from 7.55am on Saturday
Friday 6 September 2024 09:41, UK
Argentina have the chance to become the first team to beat the All Blacks at Eden Park in 50 Tests over 30 years on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, but All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has his squad focused on "redemption."
In the opening round of the Rugby Championship last weekend, the Pumas convincingly beat New Zealand in Wellington, and if they can repeat that performance and the All Blacks fail to improve, Argentina could become the first team since France in 1994 to beat New Zealand at the Auckland venue.
New Zealand have appeared to make little improvement since their first Test of the season at home against England in July - an eventual 2-0 Test series victory on Sky Sports that was achieved without the hosts playing impressively.
Robertson also has stuck with a very similar lineup in the All Blacks' four Tests under him so far, with the exception of a Test vs Fiji in San Diego which allowed for experimentation.
Again, Robertson has only tinkered with his lineup between these two Argentina Tests, making the most significant changes in the outside backs where he has brought in two new wingers (Will Jordan, Caleb Clarke) and made an alteration at centre, reversing a change he made a week earlier as Rieko Ioane returns.
New Zealand struggled to match the physicality of the Pumas in Wellington, and the spirit of the Argentina team was typified by the way in which their forwards crashed into breakdowns and their ferocity in defence.
Robertson believes the All Blacks forwards will be stirred into action by last weekend's defeat.
"Every All Black forward pack after a result like that gets a chance for a bit of redemption, another opportunity," Robertson said on Thursday.
"They've owned it (the performance), we all have. Getting out of our back fence is really important and we've put time into it this week.
"It's great to move forward now, we looked at it, now here we go, Eden Park, let's get to it.
"We learned a lot last weekend, we all did. That's been our focus."
Robertson will come under scrutiny if the All Blacks lose on Saturday. Any Test loss falls heavily on the head coach's shoulders but a loss in Auckland would invite a particular backlash.
There were questions when Robertson was appointed over whether he had the scope of experience to become an All Blacks coach. While he guided the Crusaders to seven consecutive Super Rugby titles, he had little experience outside the provincial competition.
"You ask that question of yourself all day," Robertson said of his position.
"The ability to coach simply is probably the first thing in our minds. We learned a lot last week so it's about taking what we learned and putting it into action."
Watch New Zealand vs Argentina at 8.05am, followed by Australia vs South Africa at 10.45am live on Sky Sports Action on Saturday August 17.
AD | Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.
