World Rugby Nations Cup – Day 2 Review

Round two of the World Rugby Nations Cup was another of excitement. Having lost in round one both the Argentina XV and Namibia notched up wins in round two. This leaves Emerging Italy as the only side yet to win.

With one round remaining Uruguay is the only undefeated side. In the event that Los Teros defeat Spain on Sunday they will be crowned Nations Cup Champions.

 

NAMIBIA 38 vs 22 EMERGING ITALY
Wednesday, Jun 14, 11:00, Montevideo

Namibia recovered from losing to Spain on Saturday to win today. Winning 38-22, the Africans are now strongly positioned for their final round match against Russia. A Namibia win would boost their World Ranking in addition to preparing the side for Rugby World Cup qualifiers.

The side with the better start today was Emerging Italy. The Europeans opened the scoring in the 7th minute. Scoring was Giacomo De Santis, the Emerging Italy left winger. Prop Derrick Appiah had ran strongly to create the opportunity.

15 minutes in and Emerging Italy had a comanding lead. Captain Simone Marinaro scored the second Italian try. Unlike the first it was converted. Maicol Azzolini’s lead made it 12-0.

Namibia looked to claw back. The come back would not be instant but it would prove to be effective. Scoring first for the Africans was Lesley Klim. The winger’s 29th minute try was converted by the impressive Theuns Kotzé.

Before the interval there was room for an additional try. Scoring their third try was Emerging Italy. It underlined the team’s opening half performance but would ultimately demonstrate the Europeans’ failure to play for the full 80 minutes.

Scoring try number three was Mirko Amenta. It was converted by fullback Filippo Buscema. With it Emerging Italy held a 22-7 lead at half time.

Namibian captain Renaldo Bothma led by example, scoring Namibia’s second try. Outside center JC Greyling swiftly followed it up to score Namibia’s third try. As a result the match was just a three point game.

Trailing 19-22, Namibia took firm control to overtake Emerging Italy and complete a second half shut-out. A Kotzé try put Namibia four points ahead. Lesley Klim and Gino Wilson then both went over for tries to finish the scoring at 38-22.

SCORING

NAMIBIA 38
Tries – L. Klim 2, R. Bothma, J. Greyling, T. Kotzé, G. Wilson
Cons – T. Kotzé 4

EMERGING ITALY 22
Tries – G. De Santis, S. Marinaro, M. Amenta
Cons – M. Azzolini, F. Buscema
Pens – M. Azzolini

TEAMS

NAMIBIA
1 Collen Smith, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 4 Ruan Ludick, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 6 Christo van der Merwe, 7 Janco Venter, 8 Renaldo Bothma (capt.), 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Theuns Kotzé, 11 Gino Wilson, 12 Darryl de la Harpe, 13 JC Greyling, 14 Lesley Klim, 15 Johann Tromp

Replacements: 16 Shaun du Preez, 17 AJ de Klerk, 18 Casper Viviers, 19 PJ van Lill, 20 Wian Conradie, 21 Eugene Jantjies, 22 Cliven Loubser, 23 Justin Newman

EMERGING ITALY
1 Derrick Appiah, 2 Engjel Makelara, 3 George Iacob, 4 Riccardo Michieletto, 5 Leonard Krumov, 6 Matteo Corazzi, 7 Renato Giammarioli, 8 Mirko Amenta, 9 Simone Marinaro (capt.), 10 Maicol Azzolini, 11 Giacomo De Santis, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 13 Matteo Gabbianelli, 14 Pierre Bruno, 15 Filippo Buscema

Replacements: 16 Adriano Daniele, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 Samuele Ortis, 20 Luca Nostran, 21 Pietro Gregorio, 22 Andrea Bettin, 23 Gabriele Mangeniello

 

ARGENTINA XV 37 vs 5 SPAIN
Wednesday, June 14, 13;15, Montevideo

In game 2 the Argentina XV officially recovered from their underwhelming performance against Russia. The official reserve Argentine side completed a 37-5 victory over Spain. With Spain having defeated Namibia in the opening round the result was of all the greater significance.

The final score was not a true reflection of the match as a whole. So much so that at the half way stage the Argentina XV was 10-0 ahead. Opening half points were hard to come by. The one try, though, came early. Scoring in just the 2nd minute was winger Franco Sábato. Joaquín Díaz Bonilla added the extras.

The only remaining points of the opening half were also scored by Díaz Bonilla. His one penalty for the match came in the 36th minute. It would be the last points before the 53rd minute of play.

In the second half the Felipe Contepomi coached side was greatly improved. The Argentina XV found their feet, scoring four tries. The opening score of the second half, though, came from fullback Martín Elías.

Following the try the teams exchanged tries. Scoring for the Argentina XV was Franco Cuaranta. Spain’s Ignacio Contardi cancelled the 18th minute try out in the 21st. Spain’s score was quickly forgotten as the Argentina XV responded immediately through captain Juan Cappiello.

The Cappiello try was converted by Santiago Mare. The center added a second conversion 10 minute before full-time, converting Lautaro Bavaro’s score.

SCORING

ARGENTINA XV 37
Tries – F. Sábato 2, F. Cuaranta, J. Cappiello, L. Bavaro
Cons – J. Díaz Bonilla, M. Elías, S. Mare 2
Pens – J. Díaz Bonilla, M. Elías

SPAIN 5
Tries – I. Contardi

TEAMS

ARGENTINA XV
1 Francisco Ferronato, 2 Roberto Tejerizo, 3 Facundo Gigena, 4 Pedro Ortega, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 Mariano Romanini, 7 Santiago Montagner, 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Lautaro Bazán, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Franco Cuaranta, 12 Santiago Mare, 13 Juan Cappiello (capt.), 14 Franco Sábato, 15 Martín Elías

Replacements: 16 Agustín Gómez Di Nardo, 17 Franco Brarda, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Juan Cruz Guillemaín, 20 Lautaro Bavaro, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Bruno Devoto, 23 Fernando Luna

SPAIN
1 Fernando López, 2 Daniel Marrón, 3 Alberto Blanco, 4 Manuel Mora, 5 Matt Foulds, 6 Jaime Nava (capt.), 7 Lucas Guillaume, 8 Afa Tauli, 9 Tomás Munilla, 10 Álvar Gimeno, 11 Ignacio Contardi, 12 Andrea Rabago, 13 Iñaki Mateu, 14 Federico Castiglioni, 15 Brad Linklater

Replacements: 16 Jean-Baptiste Custoja, 17 Juan Anaya, 18 Agustín Ortíz, 19 Victor Sánchez, 20 Fred Quercy, 21 Grégory Maiquez, 22 Emiliano Calle Rivas, 23 Jordi Jorba

 

URUGUAY 32 vs 29 RUSSIA
Wednesday, June 14, 15:30, Montevideo

Los Teros started poorly against Russia, only to complete a stunning comeback to win. Uruguay’s 32-29 victory was on the back of a superb second half but it was Felipe Berchesi who also opened the scoring. Berchesi landed a 2nd minute penalty to give Uruguay a 3-0 lead.

Russia quickly responded and took the lead. Center Dmitri Gerasimov’s score was there first of two quick tries. When flanker Dmitri Gritsenko blitzed the Uruguayan defense Russia was in control. Both scores were converted by flyhalf Yuri Kushnarev. This gave Russia a 14-3 lead.

24 minutes in the home side scored their opening try. Crossing was fullback, Rodrigo Silva who just managed to touch down near the left corner flag.

Russia hit back to close out the opening half. Kushnarev continued his fine performance with a drop goal before winger Denis Simplikevich scored Russia’s third. The made it a 24-8 half time scoreline.

A second half Uruguay comeback appeared unlikely. Los Teros though pulled a habit out of the hat through a combination of chasing tries and tightening up their defense.

First to score was Santiago Arata. The scrumhalf was well-positioned to provide support and run over from close range. In looking to ease the task, Arata also succeeded in going over under the posts. This gave flyhalf Felipe Berchesi with a simple conversion attempt. In making no mistake Los Teros were now nine points behind.

Sharp play from Silva saw Uruguay scoring again shortly after. Scoring was replacement winger Gastón Gibernau. Uruguay’s strong performance did not end there. Following a Berchesi penalty a second try from Silva meant Uruguay were twelve points clear.

Eight minutes remained and Russia needed to score tries. No 8 Anton Rudoi finished off strong work from the Bears to make it 32-29 with seven minutes remaining. Strong defense was required from Uruguay to come out on top. Upon doing so the players erupted with celebrations.

SCORING

URUGUAY 32
Tries – R. Silva 2, S. Arata, G. Gibernau
Cons – F. Berchesi 3
Pens – F. Berchesi 2

RUSSIA 29
Tries – D. Gerasimov, D. Gritsenko, D. Simplikevich, A. Rudoi
Cons – Y. Kushnarev 3
Drop goals – Y. Kushnarev

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Martín Espiga, 3 Mario Sagario, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Ayala, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Franco Lamanna, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Gastón Mieres, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Rodrigo Silva

Replacements: 16 Germán Kessler, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Manuel Diana, 20 Diego Magno, 21 Agustín Ormaechea, 22 Gastón Gibernau, 23 Agustín Della Corte

RUSSIA
1 Andrei Polivalov, 2 Stanislav Selskiy, 3 Azamat Bitiev, 4 Dmitri Krotov, 5 Bogdan Fedotko, 6 Viktor Gresev, 7 Dmitri Gritsenko, 8 Anton Rudoi, 9 Konstantin Uzunov, 10 Yuri Kushnarev, 11 Vasili Artemiev (capt.), 12 Dmitri Gerasimov, 13 Kirill Gubin, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 15 Ramil Gaisin

Replacements: 16 Sergei Chernyshev, 17 Valeri Morozov, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Andrei Temnov, 20 Tagir Gadzhiev, 21 Alexei Shcherban, 22 Egveni Nepeivoda, 23 Alexander Budychenko