Pumitas fall short against Ireland

Argentina’s hopes of opening the World Rugby Under 20s Championship with a win fell agonizingly short as Ireland completed a late 18-16 victory in Parma, Italy this afternoon. Played at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, the European side won with a late penalty in a match in which the lead changed hands on numerous occasions.

The only try of the match was scored to open the second half with replacement Pumita Santiago Portillo crossing to give Argentina a then 13-9 advantage. Indeed the Nicolás Fernández Lobbe coached side played superior rugby to that of the Irish but with discipline playing a significant part the Europeans were able to get back into the match and seal a late victory.

Flyhalf Domingo Miotti performed well at pivot in kicking a penalty and an impressive drop goal in the first half. Ireland’s Joey Carbery, though, kicked three first half penalties to give his side a 9-6 half time lead. Two further penalties following Portillo’s try put Ireland 15-13 ahead and it remained this way until the final ten minutes.

As the match approached it’s conclusion drama unfolded as Pumita fullback Emiliano Boffelli kicked a 78th minute penalty to give Argentina a 16-15 lead. The advantage, however, was not sufficient as replacement Irish fly half Tomas Quintan had the final say in kicking a penalty on fulltime to complete the 18-16 victory.

Both Argentina and Ireland are to play again on Saturday. Los Pumitas will face tournament favorites New Zealand while Ireland will take-on neighbors Scotland.

SCORING

ARGENTINA
Tries – S. Portillo (43)
Conversions – D. Miotti (44)
Penalties – D. Miotti (6), E. Boffelli (78)
Drop Goals – D. Miotti (30)

IRELAND
Penalties – J. Carbery 5 (4, 36, 41, 47, 56), T. Quinlan (80)

TEAMS

ARGENTINA
1 Javier Díaz 2 Ignacio Calles 3 Cristian Bartoloni 4 Vittorio Rosti 5 Ignacio Larrague 6 José Deheza 7 Lucas Gasparri 8 Ernesto Olmedo 9 Lautaro Bazán Vélez 10 Domingo Miotti 11 Juan Cruz Mallía 12 Bautista Ezcurra (capt.) 13 Tomás Granella 14 Eugenio Achilli 15 Emiliano Boffelli

16 Gaspar Baldunciel 17 Nicolás Ocello 18 Eduardo Bello 19 Ignacio Calas 20 Santiago Portillo 21 Patricio Baronio 22 Ignacio Albornoz 23 Matías Ferro

IRELAND
1 Jeremy Loughman 2 Zack McCall 3 Oisin Heffernan 4 David O’Connor 5 Alex Thompson 6 Josh Murphy 7 Rory Moloney 8 Lorcan Dow 9 Nick McCarthy (capt.) 10 Joey Carbery 11 Stephen Fitzgerald 12 Sam Arnold 13 Garry Ringrose 14 Ciaran Gaffney 15 Billy Dardis

16 Josh McNulty 17 Andrew Porter 18 Conan O’Donnell 19 Jack Dwan 20 Nick Timoney 21 Charlie Rock 22 Tomás Quinlan 23 Fergal Cleary