Argentina appeared to start strongly against a susceptible Tonga before taking their foot off the gas. However while they appeared comfortable the Argentinans may feel lucky. Tonga began to really exert pressure again the Pumas in the last minutes of the half before creating a real contest in the second half.
The Tongans however as you can probably tell from the title, were beaten by the first half. Argentina starting with true dominance in the forwards. The first try exploiting the dominance and Tongan fear of the Argentinian team.
Using a fake maul, Argentina were able to attack round the front exploiting the space in the 5m channel. Simple hands in this channel allows the Argentinans to attack and score. The fear in the Tonga’s defence leaves their hooker exposed.
By setting up with a maul the ball is obscured. The crucial movement does not come from the forwards, instead triggered by the Scrum Half. As he loops to the openside, it drags Takula from behind the maul. This coupled with the movement of Argentinas forward close to the maul really screens the Tongans, preventing them from challenging.
The crisp movements allow Argentina to expose the short side. But the ability to exploit at the beginning of the game and create a trepidation in the Tongan forwards about commiting to mauls lest they be exposed at the front again is crucial, and allows Montaya to score his of three.
But it was a poor decision making in open play that put Argentina in control. The first 2 tries coming from forward dominance and close pick and gos but it was Tonga’s game sense or lack of that really damaged their chances.
The third try comes off a lineout move which goes to the ground twice before the Argentina are able to pilfer it and run the 50 metres to the try line.
By Takula throwing it off the ground it shows the pure desperateness of Tonga. They want to try and emulate Fiji against Australia instead this sort of play makes them seem like their pacific brethren against Uruguay. While this result was never likely to be upset, you would expect more from Takula. The continuous chucking of the ball damaged their chances and instead prevented them getting real momentum.
They surrendered possession 57% of the time keeping them behind the game and preventing any real exploitation of chances. However the Pumas had 53.6%. While not a big difference it was the key difference. Tonga had a better chance of scoring in Argentinas half than vice versa but were unable to make it pay.
This statistic also looks better after the better second half. Following the first half Tonga had given up 83% of their possession. As a result they just Argentina the ball as described above meaning that while Argentina didn’t really need to create much they were able to pull away not relying on superior skill but the inferior decision making of Tonga.
Overall the Second half saved Tonga blushes, having become the fastest team to concede 4 tries this tournament they fought back admirably restricting Argentina whilst creating using flair and skills that they failed to show in the first half. However don’t write Tonga off, given this Second Half performance they could well become a threat to the French side and pull off a 2011 style upset. Argentina however should be happy but not joyous. The taking of foot off the gas while not damaging was something which should be avoided in future. However overall Los Pumas avoided a potential banana skin and must now begin to prepare for the England game.
The Analysis Guy 