Argentina XV sneak in a late win over Uruguay

The Argentina XV managed to sneak in a late win over Uruguay in the resort town of Punta del Este this evening. A late penalty from replacement fullback Pedro Mercerat saw the developmental Argentine side coming out on top 24-21.

The Argentina XV opened the scoring in the 6th minute through Marcos Bollini. The scrum half sniped over from close range to complete strong early pressure. Tucumán’s Juan Novillo added the wide conversion.

Looking to keep attacking, the Argentina XV failed to secure kick-off ball cleanly. From subsequent phrases Uruguay was awards a penalty which fly half Martín Secco turned into three points. Eleven minutes into the game Uruguay took the lead with Juan Diego Ormaechea going over for a pick-and-go try.

The Argentina XV took no time to camp themselves deep in Uruguay’s 22. Further points seems inevitable but Uruguay saw off a try scoring chance from a set-piece move and an early scrum feed enabled Los Teros to clear their lines. On a third occasion, Uruguay held off an Argentina XV maul to stop the opposition from scoring.

A school boy error from Segundo Tuculet then saw Los Teros attacking deep in the Argentina XV 22. The younger brother of World Cup Puma, Joaquín Tuculet attempted to gather an Uruguayan kick with his foot only to get a touch on it as it went 7 meters out from the Argentina XV’s own try line.

Several minutes later Secco missed a kick at goal for the second time of the match. He was on target with his next attempt which followed a try from right winger Federico Favaro, the final points of the first half. The score came from a poor decision from Tuculet in which he attempted a kick throw-in only for Favaro to kick it ahead. He out sprinted Franco Cuaranta to score.

The Argentina XV’s handling errors in the opening half persisted in the second half, gifting Uruguay possession and often in good field position. The Argentina XV, nonetheless, got it right in the 42nd minute with Pumas Sevens regular Axel Müller scoring a well-talen solo try.

The 18-14 scoreline was extended by Secco. His 48th minute penalty came from the Argentina XV’s scrum continuing to be penalized, a clear area of dissatisfaction for Coach Pablo Bouza. Both Roberto Tejerizo and Enrique Pieretto were both yellow carded resulting in uncontested scrums for seven minutes.

A further yellow card to Matías Palomeque gave the Argentina XV a prime opportunity to score and Franco Cuaranta went over in the corner. It was awarded only for pushing and shoving to result and the assistant referee determined it had not, in fact been a try.

A first penalty won by the visitors al match saw replacement Juan Cruz González kicking for a 5 meter attacking lineout. The Argentina XV secured it and after several phrases of recycling Juan Cappiello scored at the foot of the post. Replacement Pedro Mercerat leveled the scores.

Mercerat was then called upon to attempt a long range penalty from over 40 meters on a wide angle. It proved decisive, enabling the Argentina XV to just come away with the win. With the USA coming away with a big win over Chile the Argentina XV are now in second place in the competition with two rounds remaining.

URUGUAY 21
Tries – J. Ormaechea (10), F. Favaro (33)
Cons – M. Secco (34)
Pens – M. Secco 3 (8, 27, 47)
Yellow cards – J. Ormaechea (49), M. Palomeque (61)

ARGENTINA 24
Tries – M. Bollini (6), F. Cuaranta (43), J. Cappiello (64)
Cons – J. Novillo 2 (7, 44), P. Mercerat (64)
Pens – P. Mercerat (76)
Yellow cards – R. Tejerizo (49), E. Pieretto (52)

URUGUAY
1 M. Sanguinetti (R. de Mula 62) 2 G. Kessler (F. Gattas 62) 3 J. Echeverría 4 D. Magno (I. Dotti 61) 5 M. Palomeque 6 J. Gaminara (capt.) (I. Secco 65) 7 J. Ormaechea 8 A. Nieto (F. Bascou 58) 9 G. Lijtenstein (S. Arata 56) 10 M. Secco 11 A. Rocco 12 F. Klappenbach 13 A. Vilaseca 14 F. Favaro (P. Deal 50) 15 S. Martínez (M. Blengio 61)

ARGENTINA
1 R. Tejerizo (capt.) (F. Gigena 62) 2 S. Iglesias Valdez 3 C. Bartoloni (E. Pieretto HT) 4 P. Ortega 5 I. Larrague 6 J. Deheza (F. Gigena 51-62) (M. Urtubey 62) 7 L. Bavaro 8 S. Portillo (G. Paulín 65) 9 M. Bollini 10 J. Novillo (J. González 54) 11 F. Cuaranta 12 B. Ezcurra 13 J. Cappiello 14 A. Müller 15 S. Tuculet (P. Mercerat 50)

Not used: A. Zapata, M. Perotti

Referee: K. Weaver (USAR)
Assistants: C. Cattivelli (URU) & A. Longres (URU)

Attendance: 6,000