No other side in world rugby knows better than them how to stick to a gameplan than Argentina. Photo / Ron Burgin
There has been plenty of worrying about what might happen to Argentina when they enter the Rugby Championship next month. Will they have their best players? Will they be the whipping boys? Can they sell rugby to a predominantly football-crazy population?
Human nature is such that we tend to fret
more about what might go wrong than dwelling on the potential positives. Which is strange really because the Pumas are so obviously going to be bringing some welcome qualities to the table.
No one should be stupid enough to think the Pumas, because of their relatively low world ranking - they are eighth - will struggle to have any impact. Argentina are more likely to beat the All Blacks before Scotland or Ireland ever manage it - and that's not just because the Pumas will have more opportunities.
Argentina can play rugby. They can't play pretty rugby but surely after scraping home 8-7 in the most important game of all last year, New Zealanders don't need reminding that test football is about substance not style.
The Pumas can scrum. They can really scrum. They can win their lineouts, take their kick-offs, clean out a million rucks and more, kick and chase with the best of them, scramble heroically on defence and land their goals.