Pumitas Complete Sensational Win over France

Argentina’s u20 side, Los Pumitas, completed a sensational win over France this afternoon in the World Rugby Junior World Championship in Manchester, England. An unlikely turnaround in the final 20 minutes saw Los Pumitas overcoming France 24-15 at AJ Bell Stadium.

Up until the final quarter it was all France. The Europeans held an 8-6 halftime advantage which was extended to 15-6 following a penalty try. France’s pack was well on top, sending back the Argentine scrum repeatedly and the South Americans appeared to be beaten.

Los Pumitas, though, managed to gather strength and with the injection of replacements they responded with two tries to leave France breathless.

Domingo Miotti made way for Martín Elías at flyhalf and the match began to change. The replacement added two penalties to make it a 15-12 scoreline with 15 minutes left to play.

Replacements Lautaro Bazán and Bautista Stávile then went over for tries to miraculously give Los Pumitas the lead. Stávile’s match-winning try came from deep within Los Pumitas’ half. Bautista Delguy ran back a kick before offloading to Julián Dominguez who put Stáville in the clear. The replacement back row had the pace to out-sprint backs Eliott Roudil and Gabriel Ngandebe to score.

There is little time for celebrations though as Los Pumitas are to be returning to the field on Saturday to take on South Africa in a second round fixture. The Africans were also in action today and managed to overturn a 19-14 deficit at the half to defeat Japan 59-19.

FRANCE 15
Try: Dupont, Penalty Try
Conversion: Belleau
Penalty: Belleau

ARGENTINA 24
Try: Bazán, Stávile
Conversion: Elías
Penalty: Miotti 2, Elías 2

FRANCE
15 Romain Buros, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Eliott Roudil, 12 Atila Septar, 11 Gabriel Ngandebe, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Anthony Jelonch, 7 Judicaël Cancoriet, 6 Matthieu Voisin, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Michaël Simutoga, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Clément Castets

Replacements: 16 Péato Mauvaka, 17 Quentin Walcker, 18 Emerick Setiano, 19 Théo Hannoyer, 20 Alexandre Roumat, 21 Baptiste Couilloud, 22 Romuald Seguy, 23 Olivier Klemenczak

ARGENTINA
15 Bautista Delguy, 14 Tomás Malanos, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía, 12 Teo Castiglioni, 11 Julián Dominguez, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Patricio Baronio, 8 Vicente Boronat, 7 Mariano Romanini, 6 Benito Paolucci, 5 Ignacio Calas, 4 Marcos Kremer, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Gasper Baldunciel, 1 Juan Pablo Enriquez

Replacements: 16 Román Pretz, 17 Santiago Pulella, 18 Rubén Ricco, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Bautista Stávile, 21 Lautaro Bazán, 22 Martín Elías, 23 Nicolás Osadczuk