Argentina Topple Georgia in Jujuy

In front of a near-capacity crowd in San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina completed their first win of 2017. The 45-29 victory brings relief to the team after having lost against England in San Juan and Santa Fé.

A well-struck penalty from Nicolás Sánchez opened the scoring. The 4th minute score was followed by breaks from flankers Tomás Lezana and Rodrigo Báez gave Los Pumas excellent go-forward ball. Georgia, though, was able to win turnovers on both occasions to end the attacks.

A 9th minute miss from Sánchez was compensated in the 16th minute. His second penalty made it 6-0, a fair reflection of the opening 16 minutes of play. It was a bitter-sweet penalty though as Lezana was stretched-off after falling awkwardly in a tackle by Vito Kolelishvili.

In the 18th minute Georgia opened their account. Veteran fullback Merab Kvirikashvili slotted a simple penalty to make it 6-3. From the resulting kick-off Argentina were in trouble. Ramiro Moyano was yellow-carded for tackling a player in the air. With the one-man advantage Georgia threatened to score only for Jerónimo de la Fuente to defend well.

Argentina almost scored in response. A break down the left came to an end with mates Orlando thrown away the ball. Sánchez landed a penalty and added another two minutes later, giving Los Pumas a 12-3 lead.

Regular penalties led to Giorgi Nemsadze being yellow carded. The 33rd minute offense saw Agustín Creevy scoring the opening try. The Pumas’ captain scored from a rolling maul, punishing the 14-man Georgians.

Three minutes later Argentina scored again. A quick taken penalty from Leonardo Senatore sent Georgia back quickly. Rodrigo Báez and de la Fuente both aided the charge which ultimately resulted in Joaquín Tuculet scoring. The 37th minute try was well converted from Sánchez.

Any thoughts of a dream Pumas day were ended in response. Veteran mid-fielder Davit Kacharava was on hand to finish off a well-taken try. A sleeping Pumas defense was shredded. The exposed defense would have plenty to think about as the halftime siren went-off.

Three minutes into the second half and Argentina scored their third try. A long pass from Kvirikashvili was well-intercepted by Ramiro Moyano who ran over to score untouched. The winger then went to villain as he misjudged a penalty kick from Georgia, throwing it over the deadfall line. Georgia scored a penalty try from the resulting scrum.

The boomerang-effect then saw Moyano scoring his second. The Tucumán winger’s 53rd minute score would quickly be followed by another. Two minutes later he left replacement Soso Matiashvili for dead to bring up his hat-trick.

Matiashvili would make amends, scoring himself in the 68th minute. It came from an advancing Georgian scrum. With phases leading-up to the score, Argentine defenders left Matiashvili unmarked out wide. The replacement fullback scored untouched and followed it up by landing the conversion.

Georgia were not done yet. Additional dominance in the scrum led to penalties which they turned into another try. Having kicked for the corner Georgia set-up a rolling-maul and replacement Tornike Mataradze powered over. With the conversion Georgia ended the scoring, losing by 16 points.

Attendance: 20,200

ARGENTINA
Try: Creevy, Tuculet, Moyano (3)
Conversion: Sánchez (4)
Penalty: Sánchez (4)
Yellow Card: Moyano

GEORGIA
Try: Kacharava, Penalty Try, Matiashvili, Mataradze
Conversion: Matiashvili
Penalty: Kvirikashvili
Yellow Card: Nemsadze

ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Enrique Pieretto, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Guido Petti, 6 Tomás Lezana, 7 Rodrigo Báez, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Pablo Matera, 20 Benjamín Macome, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Germán Schulz

GEORGIA
1 Mikheil Nariashvili, 2 Jaba Bregavadze, 3 Soso Bekoshvili, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze, 5 Kote Mikautadze, 6 Otar Giorgadze, 7 Vito Kolelishvili, 8 Lasha Lomidze, 9 Vaso Lobhanidze, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 11 Sandro Todua, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 13 Davit Kacharava, 14 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 15 Merab Kvirikashvili

Replacements: 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Tornike Mataradze, 18 Anton Peikrishvili, 19 Giorgi Chkaidze, 20 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 21 Giorgi Begadze, 22 Lasha Malaguradze, 23 Soso Matiashvili