Pumas lock Matias Alemanno runs into an All Black tackle as teammates lock Tomas Lavanini (left) and flanker Juan Martin Fernàndez Lobbe in support. PHOTO/WARREN BUCKLAND
The body language of Argentina captain Agustin Creevy and coach Daniel Hourcade made their interpreter redundant.
The question after the Blacks beat the Pumas 28-9 on Saturday night: "Was that a try from No 8 Leonardo Senatore in the 57th minute?"
The pair pursed their lips and shrugged their shoulders in a synchronised manner at the post-match media conference at McLean Park, Napier, that would have impressed the pre-match dancers.
Replied Creevy through interpreter Rafael Laria: "There are things that happen in the game."
A diplomatic response but, really, how did that make them feel?
It's a given they wouldn't have won the game but could that try have put more respectability into the score and perhaps put the All Blacks under pressure?
With a wry smile and another shrug, Creevy replied: "Probably."
The reality is the score would have cut the deficit by five or seven points, depending on whether first five-eighth Nicolas Sanchez would have converted.
Without doubt Senatore had charged down Ma'a Nonu's kick in the ABs' 22, deftly scooped the ball for a 1.91m bloke before planting the ball over the try line.
For some inexplicable reason referee Pascal Gauzere, of France, considered it a knock-on ball and his assistants, Jerome Garces (France) and Rohan Hoffman (Australia) didn't confer.
TMO Peter Marshall, of Australia, who was involved in reversing decisions earlier was also conspicuous in his absence.
Said Hourcade: "Maybe he [Gauzere] had some mistakes. In fact he did but they [the ABs] were better than us".
The tourists on the field didn't always accept Gauzere's interpretation with prop Marcos Ayerza questioning a collapsing-a-scrum ruling that led to Beauden Barrett opening the ABs' account with a penalty in the 16th minute.
Despite persistent rain Los Pumas stuck to the gospel, according to Hourcade, of keeping the ball in hand.
Sanchez had spilled the ball in just a minute into the game.
However, the Argies weren't shy to razzle and dazzle with left winger Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino having a dropped goal attempt from wide out.
Second five-eighths Juan Martin Hernandez punted a ball wide to winger Horacio Agulla who dropped it.
Lock Tomas Lavanini and flanker Juan Manuel Leguizamon fancied a hoof and chase, a virus that ABs skipper Richie McCaw caught much to the amusement of the crowd.
Senatore's between-the-legs pass to halfback Martin Landajo from a scrum in the 35th minute on the blindside also drew gasps from the 23,329 crowd.
It was a good effort from Argentina if the 13-6 halftime score was anything to go by.
If anything, despite losing a tighthead just before halftime that resulted in a try after Barrett sliced open the defence, the Argies gave the Black Machine a solid workout before the Springboks arrive for the test match at the Cake Tin this Saturday.
"It was an excellent first half," Creevy said.
Errors proved costly, he said, and his troops' inability to grab scoring opportunities didn't help.
Lauding the Kiwis' kicking game, Hourcade said they had a penchant for feeding on mistakes and Creevy echoed similar sentiments.
"They use very well the extreme-rain, medium-rain and dry tyres [akin to F1 drivers]," he said in Spanish.
His backs should have done better, not to sidestep danger but to attack.
"Defensively we were very good except for two silly tries, two mistakes that were not according to the rest of the match," Hourcade said,
No doubt, McCaw's men spied metal fatigue in Sanchez's armour because even Julian Savea abandoned his post to go scavenging with success in that area.
Barrett, in particular, exposed holes around Sanchez in lapses that yielded tries.
For Hourcade, the experiment in moving Hernandez to the midfield to put specialist Sanchez at first five-eighth should be under scrutiny.
In the 56th minute, Sanchez was again found wanting when replacement halfback Tomas Cubelli took the ball into a ruck but the pivot wasn't at the base to relay the ball.
McCaw couldn't believe his luck, swooping in to feed on a ball the Argie pack had foraged.
While the forwards muscled up, the Pumas were guilty of not backing their rucks and mauls in driving metres from the try line or simply taking the wrong option of dropkicking for points.
The mobile pack, capable of staying upright and driving forward, often recycled balls close to the line only to see it fed to a player in isolation who the ABs ambushed.
Creevy said this time Argentina weren't guilty of not playing to the final whistle in the last 20 minutes.
"We had lapses but at different times throughout the game," he lamented.
The citing commissioner pinged Lavanini for charging head first into McCaw in a ruck although replays showed the lock had made contact with his shoulders.
The referee had gone to the TMO to award a penalty against the tourists.
Hourcade said the inclement weather negated attractive play but they would bring a more aggressive and tight approach in hopefully better conditions when they host the ABs at La Plata on September 27.