Felipe and Gus struggle in Puma defeat

Off day with boot
By Duncan Wood
November 4 2002

Felipe Contepomi, by his high standards had a rare off day with the boot on Saturday night missing 7 out of 9. Australia emerged victorious 17-6 on a night to forget for the Pumas.

It was far from being a classic. The scrums were a shambles from the off, Argentina seemed to have resorted to their old way of playing rather than the expansive style that saw off France in the summer and Australia looked rusty.

The first half was very much a tale of taking chances. Unfortunately, Felipe had an off day with his goalkicking and Argentina had left the reliable but not very expansize Gonzalo Quesada out of the squad.

It wasn't as if Felipe was striking the ball badly. It was just that several attempts drifted a yard or so wide. He was getting great distance with his kicks for goal - 2 of his attempts were either on halfway or several yards into his own half. He made the distance but was narrowly wide.

The Wallabies led 14-6 at half time. Matt Burke made no mistake with his penalty attempts and Stirling Mortlock made the most of a missed tackle to go in at the corner in injury time.

Felipe's kicks, if successful, would have made it closer but Gus had a narrow escape when he let a Stephen Larkham kick bounce into the in goal area and Larkham came through like an express train to get an apparent touch down. Ed Morrison was the video ref and he gave the benefit of the doubt to Pichot - maybe a bit of Bristol bias?

The second half was pretty grim stuff. It was tense and attritional. Felipe missed some more kicks including two in the final few minutes as the Pumas poured the pressure on. To rub salt into the wound, Elton Flatley landed a kick of his own to make the final score 17-6.

Hopefully, Gus and Felipe will both be back for the Newcastle game on Sunday. One off day kicking for goal doesn't make Felipe a bad player overnight. How many games has he won almost single handedly or pulled out of the bag for us in recent seasons?

Let's give him and Gus the welcome home they both deserve this weekend and cheer them on to victory.