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The inaugural Americas Rugby Championship came to a close at the unofficial spiritual home of Brazilian rugby, São José dos Campos this evening. The Argentina XV wrapped-up the title by defeating Brazil 42-7.
10 minutes in Juan Pablo Estelles opened the scoring. His try came from an opportunistic box-kick from scrum half Marcos Bollini. With the Argentina XV having advantage his kick was not gathered by Brazil who, mistakenly, allowed it to bounce. Estelles gladly accepted the gift five pointer.
Promising Buenos Aires fly half Juan Cruz González crossed minutes later, giving the Argentina XV a 14-0 lead after 11 minutes. The visitors advantage was based on the pace in which the visitors played their rugby.
Brazil, though came to play. When in possession the home side used the backs, a notable change to that of the past when pick-an-go through the tight forwards combined with damage protection in defense was the strategy.
Brazil looked like opening their account in the 23rd minute as Cléber Dias charged down a Mercerat kick. With none to beat Dias knocked-on as he gathered the pass over the Argentine defensive try line.
The Argentina XV won a penalty from the resulting scrum which saw the ball cleared long and Santiago Portillo scoring beside the posts. Mercerat made it three from three from the kicking tee to make it 21-0.
There was time for a fourth try before the interval with Estelles scoring for the second time. Mercerat retained his perfect goal kicking, landing a sideline conversion.
Brazil played a strong third quarter, challenging the Argentina XV’s defense repeatedly. While no points came from it the home side did prevent the Argentina XV from scoring at all during this period.
The first points of the second half came from replacement winger Bautista Delguy. The Pumita chased a well directed kick from González, touching down near the posts. Estelles crossed shortly thereafter, breaking two tackles to complete his hat-trick.
The final score, though went to the hosts. Starting scrum half, Lucas Duque, was on hand to regather a fumble from Portillo which he happily touched down. His brother, Moisés, added the conversion.
SCORING
BRAZIL 7
Tries – L. Duque (79′)
Cons – M. Duque 1/1 (80′)
ARGENTINA 42
Tries – J. Estelles 3 (9′, 37′, 73′), J. González (13′), J. Deheza (24′), B. Delguy (68′)
Cons – P. Mercerat 6/6 (10′, 14′, 25′, 38′, 69′, 74′)
TEAMS
BRAZIL
1 Rafael Carnivalle (18 Lucas Abud HT), 2 Yan Rosetti (16 Daniel Danielewicz 67′), 3 Wilton Rebolo (17 Caíque Silva 71′), 4 Lucas Piero, 5 Luiz Vieira (19 Diego López HT), 6 Mark Jackson (20 Gabriel Paganini 64′), 7 Cléber Dias, 8 Nick Smith (capt.), 9 Lucas Duque, 10 Moisés Duque, 11 Laurent Bourda-Couhet (22 Beukes Cremer 59′), 12 Matheus Cruz (21 Mateus Estrela 35′), 13 Felipe Sancery, 14 Lucas Tranquez, 15 Daniel Sancery
Not used: 23 Robert Tenório
ARGENTINA XV
1 Facundo Gigena (17 Franco Brarda 50′), 2 Santiago Iglesias Valdez (capt.) (16 Axel Zapata 67′), 3 Enrique Pieretto (18 Eduardo Bello 60′), 4 Pedro Ortega (19 Franco Molina 60′), 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 José Deheza (20 Miguel Urtubey 67′), 7 Lautaro Bavaro, 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Marcos Bollini (21 Patricio Baronio 60′), 10 Juan Cruz González, 11 Pedro Mercerat, 12 Tomás Granella (22 Martín Elías 69′), 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Juan Pablo Estelles, 15 Ramiro Moyano (23 Bautista Delguy 50′)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Chris Assmus (RC)
Assistants: Xavier Vouga (CBRu) & Ricardo Sant’Anna (CBRu)
Attendance: 3,401
