Argentina could end All Blacks’ 50-test win streak at Auckland’s Eden Park

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Argentina has the chance to become the first team to beat the All Blacks at Eden Park in 50 tests over 30 years in the second Rugby Championship match between the teams at the Auckland stadium on Saturday.

The Pumas convincingly beat the All Blacks in the first test at Wellington last weekend and if they can repeat that performance while the All Blacks fail to improve, Argentina might become the first team since France in 1994 to beat New Zealand at its rugby headquarters.

New Zealand has made little improvement since its first test of the season against England in July. Head coach Scott Robertson also has stuck with a very similar lineup in the All Blacks’ four tests so far, except for the test against Fiji in San Diego which allowed him to experiment.

Again Robertson has only tinkered with his lineup between the two Argentina tests, making the most significant changes in the outside backs where he has brought in two new wingers and made a change at center, reversing a change he made a week earlier.

New Zealand couldn’t match the physicality of the Pumas in Wellington. The spirit of the Argentina team was manifest in the way in which its forwards crashed into breakdowns and in the ferocity of its defense.

Robertson believes the All Blacks’ forwards will be stirred into action by last weekend’s defeat.

“I think every All Black forward pack after a result like that wants a chance at redemption,” Robertson said. “They’ve owned (the performance), we all have. Getting out of our back fence is really important and we’ve put time into it this week.”

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.”

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi has made only one change to his lineup, recalling hooker Julian Montoya, who will resume the captaincy after recovering from a rib injury.

The Pumas have played at Eden Park only once, losing to the All Blacks in the quarterfinals of the 2011 World Cup.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby