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Argentina are two games away from an unlikely World Sevens title in Cape Town. The South Americans eliminated powerhouses New Zealand 22-19 in extra time to reach the final four. Los Pumas Sevens will meet Kenya in one Semi Final while the hosts, South Africa face France in the other.
The win over New Zealand was just the second in history. It followed wins over Russia (33-5) and Scotland (19-14) to reach the Cup Quarter Finals. In the final match of day 1 Argentina was downed by Fiji who would go on to be eliminated by France earlier today.
This morning’s win over New Zealand came in the form of an extra time drop-goal penalty from the highly promising Bautista Ezcurra. The youngster ended what had been a deadlock in a match in which both teams crossed for three tries.
In the first half Argentina held a 14-5 advantage thanks to tries scored by Luna and Etchart, of which both were converted by Ezcurra. The New Zealanders equalized the scoring in the second half to make it 19-19 at the completion of regular time.
The lineup for the Semi Final will be Luna, Barbier, Álvarez, Bruzzone, Etchart, Muller and Ezcurra. All players are possible for the Olympic Games and a number of them could play Super Rugby aiding the path to the senior Los Pumas side.
