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Argentina defeated the French Barbarians 21-9 this evening in La Plata in the final preparation match ahead of the Rugby Championship. The non-capped fixture was the second of two matches between the teams and has significantly cleared up the World Cup selection process.
Upon replacing Santiago Phelan in October 2013 Daniel Hourcade made it known that there was a lot of work to be done and little time in which to do so. The team he inherited was aged with a number of players at the end of their carrers and not likely to be around in 2015.
The house-cleaning policy has been effective but has also meant extensive experimentation for the long term gain. The cost has been short term losses including at home due to Hourcade leaving out foreign based players whom were not in his plans for the Rugby Championship. One such player was Benjamín Urdapilleta who played against Argentina this evening but lacked the command that he possessed last Saturday in Rosario.
The match started with Urdapilleta putting the visitors 3-0 ahead with a second minute penalty. A second opportunity soon presented itself but Urdapilleta was off-target. His opposite in Rosario, Juan Pablo Socino, moved to his club position in England of inside centre and made it a 3-3 match at the 20 minute mark with his first of three penalties.
Socino was one of a number of players fighting for a place in the World Cup squad and he was playing outside another – Santiago González Iglesias. The performance of the former enhanced his chances while that of the latter was such that the argument that he is best served playing in the mid-field and not pivot may indeed have gained ground.
Both are capable as fly halves or centres, making them back-up options for Nicolás Sánchez and Juan Martín Hernández. Urdapilleta, in contrast, is a specialist ten while Patricio Fernández is deemed to be too young to play as a World Cup fly half. Fernández is, nonetheless, no younger than Pablo Matera who was his teammate in Los Pumitas.
The 21 year old started in the back-row and went over for the opening try of the evening. From a scrum Martín Landajo broke clear and found Matera. Socino’s attempted conversion was unsuccessful and Urdapilleta would make it an 8-6 scoreline shortly thereafter with a penalty. The Argentine inside-centre, though, ended the half with a penalty of his own and with it the South Americans led by five.
The second half began with Los Pumas camped deep in French Barbarians territory. Socino’s boot saw the home side extend it’s lead to 8 points. In response the French Barbarians hit back with Urdapilleta landing his third and final penalty of the match.
Hourcade responded by going to the bench and replacing González Iglesias with Nicolás Sánchez. The impact was immediately apparent as cleaner passing, linking and kicking saw the South Americans operating notably differently. Sánchez went close to putting teammates over before he kicked an up-and-under for Javier Ortega Desio to regather and dive over for a try. Socino landed the difficult conversion in what was the final scoring moment of the match.
The soon to be announced Pumas squad will travel to Sydney, Australia tomorrow to undergo a training regime ahead of the Rugby Championship. Traveling will be a group of 36 players, five more than the total that will compete in England and Wales at the World Cup.
Scorers:
Argentina
Try: Matera, Ortega Desio
Conversion: Socino
Penalty: Socino 3
French Barbarians
Penalty: Urdapilleta 3
Argentina
1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Matías Díaz, 4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Martín Landajo (Captain), 10 Santiago González Iglesias. 11 Tomás Carrió, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 13 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 14 Matías Moroni. 15 Román Miralles.
16 Santiago Iglesias Valdez (UAR), 17 Bruno Postiglioni (Zebre, Italy), 18 Francisco Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (UAR), 19 Matías Alemanno (UAR), 20 Benjamín Macome (Bayonne, France), 21 Tomás Cubelli (UAR), 22 Nicolás Sánchez (UAR), 23 Lucas González Amorosino (Cardiff Blues, Wales)
Head Coach: Daniel Hourcade
French Barbarians
1 Antoine Tichit (Oyonnax), 2 Brice Mach (Castres), 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux (Bordeaux), 4 Thibault Lassalle (Oyonnax), 5 Arnaud Mela (Brive), 6 Antoine Burban (Stade Français), 7 Pierre Rabadan (Stade Français), 8 Virgile Bruni (Toulon), 9 Jérôme Fillol (Captain – Stade Français), 10 Benjamíbn Urdapilleta (Oyonnax), 11 Silvère Tian (Oyonnax), 12 Jonathan Danty (Stade Français), 13 Henry Chavancy (Racing 92), 14 Benjamin Lapeyre (Racing 92), 15 Geoffrey Palis (Castres)
16 Jean-Charles Orioli (Toulon), 17 Lucas Pointud (Bayonne), 18 Walter Desmaison (Racing 92), 19 Jocelino Suta (Toulon), 20 Julien Tastet (Stade Montois), 21 Heini Adams (Bordeaux), 22 Julien Rey (Bordeaux), 23 Gilles Bosch (Carcassonne)
Coaches: Fabrice Landreau and Philippe Rouge-Thomas
