Argentina XV Impress Against Toulon

The Argentina XV impressed against Toulon today, winning 45-24 at La Catedral. The official national ‘A’ side proved to be significantly better than earlier in the year in both the Americas Rugby Championship and Nations Cup.

The Argentina XV outscored Toulon by six tries to four. Crossing for two tries each were Bautista Delguy, Rodrigo Etchart and Juan Cruz González. The fly half would also convert all six tries and add a penalty.

González’ inclusion was motivated very much by the non-availability of Joaquín Díaz Bonilla. The Jaguar is playing today for Hindú in the Nacional de Clubes Final. CUBA’s González went beyond making the most of his opportunity and is now a serious candidate for the Rugby Championship.

It is not altogether different for Bautista Delguy. Like González he scored a double and does not have experience in Super Rugby. But he had a tremendous performance, offering plenty on attack, precisely what Daniel Hourcade has talked about desiring from Pumas wingers and fullbacks.

It was Delguy who scored first. The 20-year-old sliced through the Toulon defense to score. It would be cancelled out quickly by former French center Mathieu Bastareaud. The mid-fielder used his size to make it a 7-7 scoreline.

Delguy and fellow Los Pumas 7’s flier Rodrigo Etchart would both score in response. With it the home side was back in front and the Argentina XV would remain so for the duration of the match. González landed both conversions and a penalty while Bastareaud scored for Toulon. This made it 31-12 at half time.

Both teams made changes for the second half. After settling Toulon escore try number three to open the second half scoring. Crossing was scrum half Anthony Meric. His score was unconverted.

González hit back for the Argentina XV. The first of his tries came from an intercept while a second from Etchart meant the Argentina XV was in no danger of losing. Toulon managed a late response with winger Eneriko Buliruarua touching down.

The teams are to play game two of the two-match serieson Friday August 04. It will take place at Tucumán Lawn Tennis club.

 

SCORING

ARGENTINA XV 45
Tries – B. Delguy 2, R. Etchart 2, J. González 2
Cons – J. González 6
Pens – J. González

TOULON 24
Tries – M. Bastareaud 2, A. Meric, E. Buliruarua
Cons – J. Wisniewski, E. Escande

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA XV
1 Felipe Arregui, 2 Agustín Gómez Di Nardo, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Santiago Portillo, 5 Diego Galetto, 6 Mariano Romanini, 7 Francisco Gorrissen (capt.), 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Juan Cruz González, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Tomás Granella, 13 Santiago Álvarez, 14 Rodrigo Etchart, 15 Bautista Delguy

Replacements: 16 Gaspar Bandunciel, 17 Francisco Ferronato, 18 Benjamín Espinal, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Benito Paolucci, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Santiago Mare, 23 Fernando Luna

TOULON
1 Florian Fresia, 2 Bastien Soury, 3 Emerick Setiano, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Jean Monribot, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (capt.), 8 Raphaël Lakafia, 9 Anthony Meric, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 11 Eneriko Buliruarua, 12 JP Pietersen, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 15 Edoardo Padovani

Replacements: 16 Badri Alkhazashvili, 17 Thomas Vernet, 18 Corentin Vernet, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Eric Escande, 22 Luke McAlister, 23 Marcel Van der Merwe, 24 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 25 Hugo Bonneval, 26 Laurent Delboulbes