Referee commended for excellent decision making during Rugby Championship match

The masses have praised esteemed referee Angus Gardner for an incredible display of confident refereeing in the Rugby Championship match between New Zealand and Argentina last weekend.

Shortly into the second half of Argentina’s 38-30 victory over the three-time world champions, Gardner was called into action to deliberate over a potential penalty offence. The issue involved yet another potential head collision – an issue that referees have focused on clamping down on in recent years.

Check it out here:

Expert reffing 👏 pic.twitter.com/8SrYpMSFeW

— Jack Tunney (@JackTunneyRugby) August 12, 2024

TMO: “For me the blue player is going into the black player and he takes him in the head.”

Gardner: “I’m not seeing anything here guys, he’s receiving the player. Is there head contact Brett?”

TMO: “There’s definitely shoulder to head contact. What’s your view?”

Gardner: “Boys, I don’t think there’s a high degree of danger so it would be a penalty only for me.”

Turning to explain to the players, Gardner justified his decision as a low degree of danger due to the Argentinian player (Joel Sclavi) running into the backing-away All Black player’s (Ethan Blackadder) shoulder.

Although this decision didn’t likely affect the result of the match, Gardner’s calm handling of the issue proved vital to ensuring that the contest of 15 vs 15 remained level.

Although the majority of people appeared impressed with his composure, not everyone was pleased, however:

Angus Gardner has been given the message in his earpiece to let New Zealand win! #NZLvARG #Rugby

— Captain Springbok 🤜🤛 (@CaptSpringbok) August 10, 2024

In every northern hemisphere game last season, that would be a minimum yellow, possibly red. And Angus Gardner doesn't really even want this to be a penalty! That's ridiculous #NZLvARG

— Dave Price (@drp297) August 10, 2024

Three key takeaways from the All Blacks vs Pumas match

Dazzling all court Pumas
Whether the All Blacks underestimated Argentina or simply weren’t up to the task of their visitors, Los Pumas shredded the All Blacks defence. Most notable was Argentina’s ability to expose the Kiwi’s kick chase as they time and again found gaps in the defence. Out wide the Kiwis struggled to win their one-on-one match-ups as Juan Cruz Mallia, Matias Moroni and Mateo Carreras continually got around the outside. This wide game was built-off Los Pumas ability to generate go forward ball in the close channels with centre Santiago Chocobares and captain Pablo Matera doing the hard yards.

Uncharacteristic All Blacks
Can anyone else remember when it last took over an hour for the first scrum in a test match to happen? Despite being played at a breakneck speed, both sides were exceptional in their handling. Completing 193 passes, the All Blacks fizzled but ultimately failed to pop as they scored ‘just’ three tries despite holding the edge in possession and making six line breaks. On the flip-side, Argentina struck when given half a chance both from the boot of Carreras and with four key tries. This felt like a role reversal of previous matches between the two sides with the All Blacks historically being the team to strike when given half a chance.

All Blacks exposed
Despite earning plenty of plaudits over the past twelve months, the All Blacks scrum had no answers for Los Pumas. Whilst it may have taken over an hour for the first scrum to arrive, Argentina took full advantage of all five in the final twenty minutes. Outsmarting their usually coy hosts, Argentina won a crucial penalty late on when Flethcer Newell was caught out by Mayco Vivas. Minutes earlier and Augustin Creevy’s try came on the heels of a powerful shove by the pack and before that Los Pumas mauled the best part of twenty meters to get up to the All Blacks line. Interestingly these scrum issues stand in stark contrast to the All Blacks series win over England and will be something the Springboks will no doubt have noted ahead of their two test series. Finally as touched upon above, the All Blacks kick chase left plenty of space for Argentina to expose on the counter attack. Whether this was on a lack of communication due to a new look backline most notably without Reiko Ioane at 13 or simply a lack of work rate to hold the line, it will be interesting to see how Robertson and his coaching staff address it this week.