Canada no match for Argentina in Montevideo

There will be little cheer about in the Canadian dressing room after the ‘A’ side was routed by the Argentina XV by 71-17 in the first round of the Americas Pacific Challenge on Saturday afternoon. The victory was comprehensive in its nature. Canada were beaten in virtually every facet of play, with the disparity in kicking skills particularly evident.

A Lautaro Bavaro turnover in the midfield created a score immediately for Argentina as Gaspar Baldunciel stepped inside a tackler and offloaded to Sebastián Cancelliere. The try-scorer went off for running repairs and it was his temporary replacement, Nicolás Cantarutti, who was next up taking a short pass from Santiago Mare for the score.

Moments later it was Mare again who made the break, and this time Juan Cruz González was the recipient for the try. Cancelliere returned to grab a double, Mare’s chip kick through bouncing kindly, and then Franco Molina went over in quick succession. A quick-tap penalty finally put Canada on the board through scrumhalf Andrew Ferguson, but Argentina replied immediately through Bautista Delguy.

The 33-point gap at halftime left plenty of room for improvement but it would be some time before Canada would return to the scoreboard. Baldunciel raced away after a bobbled high ball and Delguy went in for a second from a routine set piece attack. Rodrigo Etchart, just on the field, chipped over the defense to rub further salt in the wounds.

As replacements came into the game Canada finally grabbed some momentum. Brett Johnson stepped through the line and a quick recycle put Conor Keys on the end of an Eric Howard pass. Some 10 minutes later a solid scrum set the platform for Guiseppe du Toit to bus clear for a third Canadian try.

The fourth was not to be. Argentina showed their impressive handling skills yet again and put Franco Cuaranta in for a try in the corner, and then Benjamín Espinal crashed over from close range to wrap up the scoring. One last Canadian attack was snuffed out when Espinal wriggled in over the ball to win a turnover with his heels on the goal line.

Canada will look to salvage some confidence against Tonga on Wednesday. Argentina continue their march towards another title when they face Samoa.

 

SCORING

ARGENTINA 71
Tries – S. Cancelliere 2 (3’, 27’), N. Cantarutti (20’), J. Gonzalez (22’), F. Molina (32’), B. Delguy 2 (40’, 49′), G. Baldunciel (46′), R. Etchart (53′), F. Cuaranta (70′), B. Espinal (73′)
Cons – J. González 8/11 (4’, 21’, 23’, 33’, 50′, 54′ 71′, 74′)

CANADA 17
Tries – A. Ferguson (38’), C. Keys (57′), G. du Toit (67′)
Cons – A. Ferguson 0/1, G. du Toit 1/2 (68′)

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA XV
1 Felipe Arregui, 2 Gaspar Baldunciel, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Juan Cruz Guillemaín, 6 Mariano Romanini, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (capt.), 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Sebastián Cancelliere, 10 Juan Cruz González, 11 Franco Cuaranta, 12 Santiago Mare, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Germán Schulz, 15 Bautista Delguy

Replacements: 16 Axel Zapata, 17 Franco Brarda, 18 Benjamín Espinal, 19 Ignacio Larrague, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Nicolás Cantarutti, 22 Juan Cappiello, 23 Rodrigo Etchart

CANADA ‘A’
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Martial Lagain, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Adrian Wadden, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Kyle Gilmour (capt.), 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Travis Larsen, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Patrick Parfrey, 11 Brett Johnson, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Mike Nieuwenhuysen, 14 Conor Desmond, 15 Aidan McMullan

Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 19 Liam Chisholm, 20 Dustin Dobravsky, 21 Jorden Sandover-Best, 22 Robbie Povey, 23 Kainoa Lloyd

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Francisco González (URU)