Quarter Finals : New Zealand v Argentina

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All Blacks grind past Pumas

Sonny Bill Williams of the All Blacks is tackled by Santiago Fernandez of Argentina during quarter final four of the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup between New Zealand and Argentina at Eden Park on October 9, 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand.

( October 8, 2011 - Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images AsiaPac)

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New Zealand were made to work very hard but got the job done by beating Argentina 33-10 on Sunday to advance to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
The All Blacks were far from their best but teams seldom are in knockout rugby. What may be a concern to them though was the loss of Colin Slade to injury. Dan Carter's fly-half replacement left the field during the first stanza with a leg injury, being replaced by third-choice Aaron Cruden.
It was a scrum-half who stole the headlines though at Eden Park as Piri Weepu kicked 21 points, missing just one attempt on the night.
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In 1987, these two battled to a 46-15 scoreline in favour of the All Blacks. However, any sort of a repeat was always going to be unlikely with times markedly different in 2011. So much so that, despite an almost try from number eight Kieran Read in the left corner, Argentina were more than standing steady going into the second quarter. Only a couple of set-piece offences proved their downfall as again Weepu was successful, this time on 25 minutes.
Man of the match: A near faultless kicking display from Piri Weepu sees him take the award. He marshalled well from the base and seems to have secured the nine jersey.
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Moment of the match: It was tit for tat for long periods at Eden Park before Kieran Read put the game to bed with a try wide out. Argentina had a mountain to climb after that score.
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,9989_7231972,00.html
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Piri Weepu of the All Blacks takes on the Argentina defence during quarter final four of the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup between New Zealand and Argentina at Eden Park on October 9, 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand.

( October 8, 2011 - Photo by Sandra Mu/Getty Images AsiaPac)

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Weepu proves lethal with the boot

Piri Weepu pulled on his shooting boots to kick New Zealand to victory over Argentina and seal a place in the Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
Weepu was the star performer of the match at Eden Park, slotting seven penalties for a 100 per cent success rate that set a RWC 2011 record.
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Second-half tries by Kieran Read and veteran Brad Thorn cemented a 33-10 win for the All Blacks to set up a last-four showdown with Australia next week and the success commemorated full back Mils Muliaina's 100th Test match.
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A menacing rendition of their Kapa o Pango haka made the All Blacks’ intent clear but it was not the most polished of starts from the number one team in the world.
Argentina’s defence continued to hold firm, managing to deny the All Blacks any points for 10 minutes as they played a man down after scrum half Nicolás Vergallo’s trip to the sin bin.
But with a final tally of 134 tackles compared with New Zealand’s 54, the Pumas started to tire towards the end. That enabled Read to break through to score the All Blacks’ first try and bring most of the 57,912, black-clad fans to their feet.
match page with video:
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/matches/match=11230/analysis.html#weepu+proves+lethal+with+boot
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Keven Mealamu of the All Blacks takes on Juan Manuel Leguizamon of Argentina during quarter final four of the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup between New Zealand and Argentina at Eden Park on October 9, 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand.

( October 8, 2011 - Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images AsiaPac)

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next test:
Semi-Finals
10-16
New Zealand v Australia
Auckland
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