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Less than two months out from hosting the 2019 World Rugby Junior World Championship Los Pumitas have made history. Argentina’s u20’s claimed a famous away win over South Africa u20s this morning, doing so 34-33 in Stellenbosch.
The match rounded off Los Pumitas’ three match tour of South Africa, giving them a historic 3-0 clean sweep. The tour began against the Namibia XV, a side packed with senior players expected to play in RWC 2019 for the test side. Despite the level of players Namibia fielded they were no match for Argentina’s u20’s side who completed a 64-8 victory.
In game two of the tour Argentina faced Georgia u20’s. It was a highly competitive match, and one in which the Eastern Europeans appeared to be on course for victory. Instead an impressive comeback would take Los Pumitas to a 32-26 win.
The South Africa u20’s were also victorious against both the Namibia XV and Georgia u20’s. This set-up a final showdown between two sides who will compete in this year’s Junior World Championship in Argentina in June.
As the scoreline suggests, today’s 34-33 win was truly competitive and extraordinary. The back-and-forth contest would see both sides holding the lead in a match in which the winner was not confirmed util minutes from full time.
In the first half Los Pumitas would score two tries. They came from hooker Pablo Dimcheff and scrum-half Joaquín Pellandini. Fly half Nicolás Roger would convert one of the them and also land a penalty to see Argentina ahead 15-12 at half time.
The second half would not start well for Los Pumitas. With Pellandini allowing a kick to bounce he was unable to gather it which saw South Africa making him pay. With the score the home side were leading 19-15.
The set-piece has been a point of great discussion in Argentina with Mario Ledesma going so far as to see the UAR employ Eduardo Fernández Gill as the official Scrum Doctor. Ledesma and Gill will both be pleased with the performance this morning against South Africa.
In the opening half the scrum was solid while in the second it would prove decisive in point scoring opportunities. The formation would see penalties awarded to Los Pumitas. In the 57th minute this would see replacement scrum-half Gonzalo Gárcia adding a new dimension to the team which would culminate in a penalty try.
The teams would trade further tries to set-up a tense finish. With ten minutes remaining in the match Los Pumitas were ahead 27-26. Replacement Francisco Minervino would score in the 75th minute, a try which gave Argentina a 34-26 advantage.
As the game clock went past 80 minutes Los Pumitas were assured of victory. Yet South Africa were looking to finish on a high and so they ran from deep to score in overtime. The late try brought the scores to just one point with time up.
To watch the game in its entirety click to play the following video. It is courtesy of springboks.rugby, the official website of South African Rugby.
ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Pablo Dimcheff, 3 Francisco Coria, 4 Manuel Bernstein, 5 Agustín Toth, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 8 Bautista Pedemonte, 9 Joaquín Pellandini, 10 Nicolás Roger, 11 Rodrigo Isgró, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Juan Pablo Castro (capt.), 14 Lucio Cinti, 15 Francisco Jorge
Replacements: 16 Jean Baptiste Reggiardo, 17 Ramiro Gurovich, 18 Francisco Minverino, 19 Ramiro Tallone, 20 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 21 Estanislao Carullo, 23 Ignacio Vidal, 24 Gonzalo Gárcia, 25 Gerónimo Prisciantelli, 26 Tomás Acosta Pimentel, 27 Ignacio Mendy
