Argentina XV secure South American title by dominating Brazil

The Argentina XV secured the 2019 South American title by dominating Brazil. Played today in Belo Horizonte, the Argentina XV completed a shut-out 62-0 win to be crowned this year’s Sudamérica 6 Naciones A champions.

Today’s win over Brazil completes a comprehensive campaign for the Argentina XV. The team not only won all of their matches but they did so without conceding a try. They began by defeating Colombia 79-3 and then downed Chile 55-3.

Brazil, meanwhile finish with a 1-2 record. Os Tupis started well by defeating Paraguay by a record margin of 66-10. Yet they were unable to compete in their matches against the next senior XV’s from Uruguay, and Argentina as they lost 38-19 against the Uruguay XV and 62-0 against the Argentina XV on home soil.

Against both the Uruguay XV, and the Argentina XV a common theme was being able to compete in the first half before falling apart in the second. Last week saw the Uruguay XV trailing 21-19 at half-time while today the margin was 19-0.

Scoring opening half tries in Belo Horizonte were Santiago Portillo, Diego Fortuny, and Facundo Cordero. All three saw the defense guilty of opening up to which the Argentina XV graciously ran through to capitalize.

Portillo’s score was the first of the match but what started out as a strong performance was ended prematurely. The N8 was red carded for foul play with assistant referee Vinicius Aleixo putting out his flag and subsequently notifying referee Francisco González of a punch.

The player was stunned by the decision but left the field calmly. The TV images prior to the incident and thereafter failed to capture any evidence of foul play. The assistant had been 15 meters away from where it was deemed to have occurred.

Despite playing with one player less than the home side, the Argentina XV would not be held at bay. Instead the visitors would run in six second half tries, and finish with three different backs each bagging doubles. They would come from Facundo Cordero, Agustín Segura, and Teo Castiglioni.

Brazil’s defense was unable to hold off the Argentina XV, and matters were not helped by the red carding of flanker Matheus Cláudio. He was sent off for a tip-tackle on Rodrigo Bruni.

With the win, and the title the Argentina XV can now focus on their next assignment – the Nations Cup in  Uruguay next month. Brazil will also be playing in June with Os Tupis to play host to Romania, and Spain.

 

SCORING

BRAZIL 0
Red cards – M. Claudio (45’)

ARGENTINA 62
Tries – S. Portillo (12’), D. Fortuny (20’), F. Cordero 2 (23’, 54’), A. Segura 2 (49’, 57’), T. Castiglioni 2 (70’, 77’), M. Montero (80’)
Cons – T. Albornoz 4/5 (13’, 24’, 50’, 55’), T. Castiglioni 3/4 (58’, 71’, 80’)
Pens – T. Albornoz 1/1 (46’)
Red cards – S. Portillo (14’)

 

TEAMS

BRAZIL
1 Lucas Abud (17 João Talamini 55’), 2 Wilton Rebolo (18 Matheus Rocha 80’), 3 Caíque Silva (18 Matheus Rocha 26’ {16 Yan Rosetti 45’}), 4 Luiz Vieira, 5 Lucas Piero (19 Gabriel Paganini HT), 6 Matheus Claudio, 7 Cléber Dias (20 Matteo Dell’Acqua 43’), 8 André Arruda, 9 Lucas Duque (21 Laurent Bourda-Couhet HT), 10 Lucas Tranquez, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 De Wet van Niekerk (23 Lorenzo Massari 46’), 13 Robert Tenório, 14 Stefano Giantorno (22 Ariel Rodrigues 55’), 15 Daniel Sancery (capt.)

ARGENTINA XV
1 Nicolás Solveyra (17 Javier Corvalán 70’), 2 Diego Fortuny (16 José Luis González 58’), 3 Martín Fernández Segurotti (18 Lucas Favre 55’), 4 Jerónimo Ureta, 5 Carlos Repetto (19 Ignacio Calas 61’), 6 Rodrigo Bruni (20 Nicolás Sbrocco 52’), 7 Francisco Gorrissen (capt.), 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Gregório del Prete (21 Manuel Nogués 58’), 10 Tomás Albornoz (22 Teo Castiglioni 55’), 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Lucas Mensa (23 Bautista Ezcurra HT), 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Julián Domínguez, 15 Facundo Cordero

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Francisco González (URU)
Assistants: Tomas Bertezza (UAR) & Vinicius Aleixo (CBRu)