Rugby World Cup 2015: New Zealand’s Richie McCaw ‘dumb’

Under Hansen’s reign, the All Blacks have only suffered defeat three times in 47 Tests.

Their opening World Cup game against the defending champions New Zealand on Sunday is being played on the hallowed football ground of Wembley, graced in the past by Argentinian sporting heroes such as Lionel Messi and Maradonna.

For a brief period when the All Blacks and Argentina last met in July, the Pumas dominated up front and produced two tries from driving mauls, a tactic which coach Daniel Hourcade is keen to reproduce on Sunday.

The All Blacks also had captain Richie McCaw and veteran centre Conrad Smith sin-binned which reduced them to 13 men at one stage of the first half. “I knew straight away (it was yellow)”. It was a reflex thing but it wasn’t the right thing to do. Carter added the extra two points with an easy conversion.

“We know that we played to a high level against the Springboks but the first two matches of the Rugby Championship against New Zealand and Australia we didn’t play well”.

With the 2015 Rugby World Cup officially kicking off tomorrow (Saturday 19th NZDT), rugby fans will shortly begin gathering in lounges, clubs and pubs to cheer on the All Blacks.

Argentina started the second half brightly as Sanchez’s penalty gave his side a four-point lead as they continued to hold New Zealand back with their numerical advantage.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has stayed true to his word and named the strongest possible team for their opening World Cup match against Argentina.

New Zealand remain unbeaten in 22 Tests against Argentina but this was their narrowest win in eight Tests since 2006.

“Sometimes in the heat of the moment, you get a little brain explosion but the rest of the discipline was pretty good”.

On why most of the record 89,019 crowd booed McCaw as he trudged off to the bin, Hansen said: “It’s a mark of respect towards a great player”.

“I think you’d be disrespectful to the game if you ever got sick of the questions and the banter and being asked for an autograph – whatever comes with being in this team”.

The Exchange has New Zealand as 21.5 point favourites paying [2.00].

As with any win, there were some positives.

“Sonny Bill Williams should have been man of the match in my opinion”, Henry told the Paul Henry Show. We’ll just worry about Argentina this week and Namibia the next game and so forth.

His offloads were integral in numerous Kiwi breaks, which led to tries for A.Smith and fellow substitute Cane, with the latter all but ending the contest.

New Zealand made 10 clean breaks and 23 offloads, which against most defensive lines in this tournament would prove to be unstoppable. What often killed the Pumas was loose kicking to the All Blacks back three.

Once their nerves had settled however, the Pumas started to get into their stride and caused their more fancied opponents a number of problems on defence.