Campeonato Argentino de Mayores Round 2

Round two of Argentina’s national provincial championship, the Campeonato Argentino de Mayores was played this weekend. Also known as the Torneio Argentino de Uniones or the Copa Personal for commercial reasons the competition brings together the leading athletes from nationwide to give them exposure to a higher level competition.

Playing away to Cuyo Buenos Aires made it two from two by completing an impressive 45-11 which sees the province sitting well in front. Early on it had been a competitive match with the scores 17-11 at the interval but in scoring four second half tries to zero Buenos Aires stormed home.

Fullback Pedro Mercerat was impressive as he scored 20 points including a second half try. Continuing his come back was Argentine Super Rugby contracted back-rower Rodrigo Báez who played at the back of the scrum for Cuyo.

Cuyo
1 Esteban Fernández, 2 Esteban Viale, 3 Nicolás Urrutia, 4 Juan Pablo Álvarez, 5 Fidel Lamy, 6 Patricio Sánchez, 7 Agustín Gómez, 8 Rodrigo Báez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Alan Poquet, 11 Javier Linares, 12 Tomás Granella, 13 Matías De Paolis, 14 Franco Viazzo, 15 Pedro Lértora

Buenos Aires
1 Francisco Ferronato, 2 Facundo Bosch, 3 Leandro Assi, 4 Pablo Collarini, 5 Carlos Cáceres, 6 Miguel Urtubey, 7 Lautaro Bávaro, 8 Gonzalo Delguy, 9 Lucas Camacho, 10 Juan Cruz González, 11 Matías Masera, 12 Rodrigo Ávalos, 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Gonzalo Gutiérrez Taboada, 15 Pedro Mercerat

Also impressing was Córdoba who completed a 53-30 home win over Rosario to stay alive in the competition. Two first half tries to Facundo Panceyra Garrido saw Córdoba in control at the half way point but Rosario crossed twice to open the second half and threatened to snatch a win. Córdoba, though, recovered to score three late tries and win by a comfortable margin.

Córdoba
1 Franco Brarda, 2 Agustín Acosta, 3 Nicolás Achilli, 4 Marcos Lobato, 5 Gonzalo Paulín, 6 Gaspar Oberti, 7 Lautaro Casado, 8 Aníbal Panceyra Garrido, 9 Martín Maineri, 10 Cristián Nacassián, 11 Gonzalo Ruiz, 12 Santiago Tobal, 13 Facundo Panceyra Garrido, 14 Franco Cuaranta, 15 Guillermo Albrisi

Rosario
1 Guillermo Imhoff, 2 Exequiel Céspedes, 3 Gaspar Torres, 4 Facundo Forquera, 5 Facundo Lucas, 6 Ignacio Fantín, 7 Axel Fiore, 8 Emilio Cuello, 9 Pedro Imhoff, 10 Mateo Escalante, 11 Juan Rapuzzi, 12 Nicolás Debatista, 13 José Forlla, 14 José Rainaudo, 15 Manuel Novella

Further north Tucumán made it two from two with a 27-22 away win over Salta at the Jockey Club. The highly promising Domingo Miotti kicked two early penalties to give Tucumán an early advantage. His opposite, Santiago Larrieu cancelled hit back with two of his own, the second following a third success from Miotti. Argentine Super Rugby player Matías Orlando then crossed for the opening try two minutes from half time.

A Gonzalo Toran try saw the teams tied at 16-16 in the 54th minute but Tucumán fought back well through replacement Martín Arregui who came on for Miotti to land three penalties and score a try. Larrieu kept Salta close through two further penalties.

Salta
1 Cristian Fernández, Diego Fortuny, 3 Martín Dahas, 4 Mauricio Martínez, 5 Manuel Plaza, 6 Matias Fortuny, 7 Francisco Poodts, 8 José Chierice, 9 Mauro Perotti, 10 Santiago Larrieu, 11 Marco Sechi, 12 Gaston Frey, 13 Eduardo Gomez Naar, 14 Gonzalo Toran, 15 Gonzalo Montalbetti

Tucumán
1 Francisco Trejo, 2 Diego Vidal, 3 Martin Hernández, 4 Rodrigo Ferro, 5 Gabriel Saracho, 6 Juan Simon, 7 Nicolas Proto, 8 Lisandro Ahualli, 9 Joaquín Lopez Islas, 10 Domingo Miotti, 11 Augusto López, 12 Matías Frias Silva, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Lucas Cartier, 15 Lucas Barrera Oro

Championship Zone
Cuyo 11-45 Buenos Aires
Cordobesa 53-30 Rosario
Salta 22-27 Tucumán

1	Buenos Aires	10
2	Tucumán	8
3	Cordobesa	5
4	Salta	5
5	Cuyo	1
6	Rosario	1

Results in the Second division saw Santafesina, Mar del Plata and Nordeste all completing home wins in Zone A of the Promotion category. Zone B was slightly different as Sur and the Uruguay XV both won at home but Chubut was overcome by the visiting Oeste.

Having been invited to join the Argentine National Provincial Championship, in an effort to boost Uruguayan rugby, the Charruá side is well placed with two comfortable wins from as many matches played.

At junior level Cuyo made up for the senior side’s loss against Buenos Aires as the under 21 side completed a 21-20 victory. Córdoba and Tucumán were also triumphant, defeating the same sides as the seniors.

Promotion Zone A
Santafesina 39 – Santiagueña 28
Mar del Plata 21 – Alto Valle 3
Nordeste 44 – Entrerriana 20

Promotional Zone B
Sur 48-10 Lagos
Uruguay XV 40-3 Sanjuanina
Chubut 13-17 Oeste

Under 21 Championship
Cordobesa 31-0 Rosario
Salta 10-69 Tucumán
Cuyo 21-20 Buenos Aires