Argentina XV thrash Chile in Tucumán

The Argentina XV thrashed Chile in their Sudamericano 6 Naciones ‘A’ match at Tucumán on Saturday, the final score reading 55-3 in favor of the home side. Chile simply was no match for the well-drilled and vastly superior Argentines who had their way from start to finish.

It took just two minutes for Manuel Montero to find the line for Argentina, the giant winger stretching his long arm out of contact to set up an easy conversion for Martín Roger. To their credit, the Cóndores made things difficult for a few minutes until Tomás Albornoz found a gap off the post for the second try.

Chile got their first and only points just shy of the 20 minute mark, a 41-meter penalty goal from Benjamín Baraona. From there out the game was all Argentina.

Albornoz ran his second try in from halfway, stepping past two and accelerating through a gap with to show a clean pair of heels to the cover defense. Next it was Montero’s turn. He looked like a man among boys, swatting off three players and running clean through the fullback to make the corner.

Virtually every facet of play was in Argentina’s favor, and the scrum was no exception. Claudio Iturra was binned for repeat collapses and though the referee bizarrely awarded two further penalties at the 5-meter put-in, the penalty try was eventually given to make it 29-3 at halftime.

Montero had his hat-trick within seconds of the second half kickoff. Albornoz made the line break and Montero worked a give-and-go with Agustín Segura to saunter over as if on a leisurely stroll in the park.

Nicolás Sbrocco drove over from close range just around the hour mark for a well-worked forwards try. Next it was prop Javier Corvalán who went through the middle of a lineout on a cheeky set move. The final score went to Tomás Cubilla, who stepped through after the Chileans had spilled the ball in their own end.

Argentina will look to wrap up the title when they face Brazil at Belo Horizonte next weekend. Chile will hit the road for a game against Paraguay in Asunción.

 

SCORING

ARGENTINA XV 55
Tries – M. Montero 3 (2′, 31′, 41′), T. Albornoz 2 (16′, 27′), Penalty try (40′), N. Sbrocco (61′), J. Corvalan (69′), T. Cubilla (78′)
Cons – M. Roger 4/8 (3′, 42′, 70′, 79′)

CHILE 3
Pens – B. Baraona 1/1 (19′)
Yellow cards – C. Iturra (39′), A. Bohme (57′)

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA XV
1 Javier Corvalán (17 Juan Manuel Pittinari 71′), 2 José Luis González (16 Diego Fortuny 43′), 3 Martín Fernández Segurotti (18 Lucas Favre 45′), 4 Carlos Repetto (19 Ignacio Calas 54′), 5 Jerónimo Ureta, 6 Nicolás Sbrocco, 7 Francisco Gorrissen (capt.), 8 Santiago Portillo (20 Lucas Santa Cruz 59′), 9 Gregório del Prete (21 Ignacio Inchauspe 59′), 10 Martín Roger, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Lucas Mensa (22 Tomás Cubilla 71′), 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Julián Domínguez (23 Facundo Cordero 59′), 15 Tomás Albornoz

CHILE
1 Piero Zunino (17 Claudio Iturra 38′), 2 Augusto Böhme (16 Javier Meneses 67′), 3 Nicolás Ovalle (18 José Tomás Munita 38′), 4 Pablo Huete, 5 Francisco Garrido (20 Ignacio Silva HT), 6 Nicolás Garafulic (21 Benjamín Soto 63′), 7 Clemente Saavedra (19 Augusto Sarmiento 63′), 8 Martín Sigren (capt.) (20 Ignacio Silva 13′-18′), 9 Aldo Cornejo (22 Juan Pablo Larenas 32′), 10 Benjamín Baraona, 11 Tomás Salas (16 Javier Meneses 57′-67′), 12 Iñaki Ayarza, 13 Lucca Avelli (23 Domingo Saavedra 57′), 14 Germán Herrera (1 Piero Zunino 39′-48′), 15 Luca Strabucchi

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Santiago Altobelli (UAR)