Argentina XV fall short against Romania in Nations Cup

The Argentina XV finished second in the 2015 Nations Cup after falling to a decisive 23-0 loss against Romania in Bucharest. Argentina’s home based players were thoroughly outplayed by an experienced Romanian pack with the front-row notably outplaying the South Americans.

Romania started well and Florin Vlaicu had opportunities to open the scoring but was off target on two occasions.  Still scoreless at the twenty minute mark the Argentine XV found themselves a man down when Lucas Maguire was yellow carded. On his third attempt Vlaicu succeeded and with it the Eastern Europeans held a 7-0 lead. His conversion came following tighthead prop Vlad Badalicescu going over for the opening try.

Strong rain did not make it conducive to running rugby and with it Romania’s strong performing pack found itself taking advantage of a frustrated visiting side. The heavier Romanians dominated the scrum and forced Argentina to give away penalties. It match that of Saturday’s match in Rosario in which Los Pumas gave away a staggering 23 penalties in losing to the French Barbarians.

Neither team was able to score any first half points following Badalicescu’s try which saw Romania leading 7-0. 12 minutes into the second half it was 14-0 as Vlaicu punished Argentina’s lack of discipline. The match was then all but ended with twenty minutes remaining as replacement Florin Surugiu crossed for a try. Vlaicu’s conversion ended the scoring.

Due to Argentina XV being a non-official test team the fixture was uncapped. As such Argentina’s World Ranking will remain unchanged. Earlier in the day Spain completed an important 20-3 win over Namibia. Unlike Namibia Spain will not play in the World Cup with the reason being Spain’s comparably difficult qualifying path to that of Namibia. Spain will, consequently, rise at the expense of Namibia in the rankings.

Scorers:

Romania
Try: Badalicescu, Surugiu
Conversion: Vlaicu 2
Penalty: Vlaicu 3

Romania
1 Mihaita Lazar (Castres, France), 2 Otar Turashvili (Colomiers, France), 3 Vlad Badalicescu (CSM Olimpia Bucuresti), 4 Marius Antonescu (Tarbes, France), 5 Marian Drenceanu (Timisoara Saracens), 6 Viorel Lucaci (Steaua Bucuresti), 7 Vlad Nistor (Castres, France), 8 Mihai Macovei (Colomiers, France), 9 Valentin Calafeteanu (Timisoara Saracens), 10 Michael Wiringi (Stiinta Baia Mare), 11 Ionut Botezatu (Stiinta Baia Mare), 12 Florin Vlaicu (CSM Olimpia Bucuresti), 13 Csaba Gal (Universitatea Cluj), 14 Adrian Apostol (Stiinta Baia Mare), 15 Catalin Fercu (Saracens, England)

16 Andrei Radoi (Timisoara Saracens), 17 Constantin Pristavita (Stiinta Baia Mare), 18 Alexandru Gordas (CSM Olimpia Bucuresti), 19 Dorin Lazar (Timisoara Saracens), 20 Stelian Burcea (Timisoara Saracens), 21 Florin Surugiu (CSM Olimpia Bucuresti), 22 Danut Dumbrava (Steaua Bucuresti), 23 Florin Ionita (Steaua Bucuresti)

Argentina XV
1 Roberto Tejerizo (Tucuman Lawn Tennis), 2 Facundo Bosch (CUBA), 3 Guido Randisi (Duendes), 4. Gerónimo Albertario (Pucará), 5 Aníbal Panceyra Garrido (Tala), 6 Lucas Maguire (CUBA), 7 Gonzalo Paulín (Tala), 8 Martín Chiappesoni (Atletico del Rosario), 9 Gonzalo Bertranou (Los Tordos), 10 Juan León Novillo (Tucuman), 11 Franco Cuaranta (Tala), 12 Joaquín Paz (Cordoba Athletic), 13 Juan Cappiello (Pucará), 14 Augusto López (Tucuman), 15 Tomás Carrió (Duendes)

16 Santiago Garcia Botta (UAR), 17 Tomas Baravalle (Jockey Club Rosario), 18 Nicolas Mirande (Tucuman), 19 Franco Baldoni (Buenos Aires), 20 Miguel Urtubey (Newman), 21 Lucas Alcacer (SIC), 22 Brian Ormson (Pucara), 23 Bautista Alvarez (Hindú)