3 days Ago
(Reuters) - Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi was of course happy with his side's 50-18 demolition of Italy on Saturday but he was even more thrilled with how they achieved the win. Italy made far too many errors, but Argentina's intensity meant they took full advantage every time, leading to the emphatic win. "We always say the same thing about the results: they are great and you want and seek to win, it is what we like the most, but the way we get there is more important," Contepomi said.
"We talked about being intense, we knew they were going to be very intense. I think we saw a team that had a better physical return in the last 20 minutes." Argentina raced into a 17-0 lead and, although Italy did manage to close the gap to four points at one stage, Contepomi's side stuck to their game plan and ran out easy winners.
"At times it was very hard and even, but they continued to trust and use the tactics we had talked about," the coach said. "In the end the stone broke, but first it had to be chopped a thousand times, and for that I congratulate the boys. "What I liked the most is that from minute one we went with the plan, we wanted to play our style and we carried it out.
" Argentina will expect a tougher task against Ireland next Saturday and the coach already has his plan ready for the game against a side who lost 23-13 to New Zealand on Friday. "It's another game, another type of team and it's going to be a completely different challenge," Contepomi said. "We already know what we want to do.
We're going to have one less day of rest, a trip in between and so on, so we're going to plan the week based on that, trying to get there as well as possible and try to impose our game plan over theirs. "If we can do it and have a favourable result, even better. If not, we'll keep working to be able to get closer to the best teams in the world, and Ireland is one of them.
" (Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Ken Ferris).
