Mexico Topple USA South Panthers in Thriller

Mexico toppled the USA South Panthers in a thriller this afternoon. Played at the Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Las Serpientes won the Rugby Americas North Championship fixture 36-29.

The USA South Panthers started the game strongly. Asking question of the Mexican defense, the Panthers were able to open the scoring after sustained pick-and-go raiding.

Las Serpientes responded through Gonzalo Pons. Having made a clean line break, Pons offloaded to Mizael Loredo who touched down. Agustín Sánchez added the extras to make it a 7-7 scoreline.

The opening try saw Las Serpientes begin a period of dominance. Having equalized the scores Sánchez landed a drop goal to claim the lead for the first time in the match.

Playing with confidence further points followed. Andrés Rodríguez found his way through the Panthers’ defense to score Mexico’s second try. Sánchez again made no mistake with the conversion and with it Mexico found themselves ten points ahead.

Following Rodríguez’ try came a turning point in the game. Sánchez was forced off with Franco Guerrero replacing him as the goal kicker. Guerrero added two penalties late in the first half . The Panthers hit-back with a drop goal to complete the first half scoring at 23-10 to the home side.

In the second half the Panthers turned the came around smartly. Two tries, one of which was converted, made it a one point game. Guerrero relieved the pressure with a penalty goal to take Mexico up to 26 points.

As the second half reached its final stages Mexico appeared to have wrapped up the result. Guerrero ran half the length of the field to take Mexico up to 36 points. The USA South Panthers were able to strike back to finish the match at 36-29.

The teams are to now have three weeks to prepare for their next assignments. On June 17 the USA South Panthers have home advantage against Bermuda. On the same date Mexico will play away to the Cayman Islands. Before then the Cayman Islands will play away to Bermuda on June 03.

 

SCORING

MEXICO 36
Tries – M. Loredo (15’), A. Rodríguez 2 (23’, 73’)
Cons – A. Sánchez 2/2 (16’, 24’), M. Carner 1/1 (74’)
Pens – A. Sánchez 2/2 (20’, 27’), F. Guerrero 1/1 (30’), M. Carner 2/2 (55’, 70’)
Yellow cards – J. Reyes (49’), F. Guerrero (60’), M. Flegmann (62’)

USA SOUTH 29
Tries – H. Erasmus (10’), T. Eason (51’), Z. Miller (56’), M. Hughston (78’)
Cons – A. Channel 3/4 (11’, 57’, 79’)
Pens – A. Channel 1/1 (37’)
Yellow cards – M. Satavu (19’)

 

TEAMS

MEXICO
1 Marcos Flegmann (16 Esteban Viñas 74’), 2 Mizael Loredo, 3 Max Douek (capt.), 4 Roberto Calderón, 5 Cesar Treviño (19 Tobias Hernández 61’ {16 Esteban Viñas 64’-72’}), 6 José Reyes, 7 Gonzalo Pons (17 Santiago Prieto HT), 8 Simon Pierre, 9 Andrés Rodríguez, 10 Agustín Sánchez (20 Miguel Carner 29’), 11 Fharid Samano (23 Rodrigo Márquez 74’), 12 Pascal Nadaud, 13 Franco Guerrero, 14 Luis Arredondo (22 Christian Henning HT), 15 Rodrigo Ripoll

Not used: 18 Sebastian Díaz, 21 Diego Ramírez

USA SOUTH PANTHERS
1 Stephen Cappello (16 Amro Gouda 52’), 2 Matt Fontana (23 Trey Eason 32’), 3 Alex Nazon, 4 Waymon Cassell (17 Wayne Chermley 46’-55’, 62’), 5 John Bryant (19 Calvin Storey 62’), 6 Jordan Gunderson, 7 Matt Hughston, 8 Hein Erasmus (capt.), 9 Jarrett Gartin (20 Saade Bou-Mikael 37’-40’, 52’), 10 Adam Channel, 11 Mike Sanders, 12 Cormac Kenan, 13 Marcus Satavu (22 Nathan Ring 49’), 14 Gerson Blaise (21 David Coleman 60’), 15 Zach Miller (18 Todd Sherer 64’)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Robin Kaluzniak (RC)
Assistants: Phil Akroyd (USAR) & AN Other (FMR)