Argentina see red in draw against Wales

Argentina and Wales competed to a 20-20 draw this morning in Cardiff, Wales. The home side came back from 20-6, doing so against a team that lost Juan Cruz Mallía to a first half red card.

Following a miss from Callum Sheedy, Argentina responded with force. Facundo Isa delivered a solid tackle on Aaron Wainwright. It forced him back several meters and the South Americans won a penalty. Sánchez landed the simple opportunity. Wales hit-back with Sheedy leveling the scores with his first of two opening half penalties.

The scrums were frustrating the referee. Matthew Carley warned Dillon Lewis and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro that they must improve. The resulting scrum did not which saw Carley handing out a double yellow card.

Argentina subsequently went from 14 to 13 players. Juan Cruz Mallía was sent off for head-to-head contact on Kieran Hardy. He chased his own up and under and tackled the Welshman. Carley sent him off for not adjusting his body position while entering with speed and making contact to the head.

Los Pumas looked to their pack and mid-fielders. Good go-forward ball saw twelve phases of attack. When awarded a penalty Sánchez took the three points.

When Argentina won the battles in the contact area they looked strong. This was the case for the game’s opening try. With half time approaching Julián Montoya won a turnover penalty. Sánchez kicked into the 22 from which Argentina attacked with a maul. Petti took the throw and Montoya broke off the back to be stopped mow meters short. Pablo Matera charged over Sheedy for the score.

The 14-man Pumas went turned on their afterburners. Facundo Isa made strong carries as did replacement Santiago Chocobares. The Rufino midfielder broke a tackle and offloaded to Jerónimo de la Fuente. The Toulouse-Perpignan combination gave Los Pumas their second try.

Wales responded through their forwards. Consecutive penalties went the way of the Dragons. Space opened and Will Rowlands capitalized with a try out wide. Sheedy converted to make it a 20-13 scoreline. Sánchez missed two penalties shortly thereafter.

The misses were costly. Wales again had the one-man advantage helping them gain meters. After minutes of Welsh raids Tomos Williams darted over to score. With the conversion the match was poised at 20-20.

Both teams had a kick at goal to break the deadlock. Domingo Miotti missed a difficult attempt for Argentina before Wales’ replacement Jarrod Evans was off-target with his shot on full-time.

The teams will meet again next Saturday. The winner of the match will earn a test series victory.

 

SCORING

WALES 20
Tries – W. Rowlands (51′), T. Williams (71′)
Cons – J. Evans 2/2 (52′, 72′)
Pens – C. Sheedy 2/3 (18′, 26′)
YC – D. Lewis (28′)

ARGENTINA 20
Tries – P. Matera (39′), J. de la Fuente (46′)
Cons – N. Sánchez 2/2 (40′, 47′)
Pens – N. Sanchez 2/4 (16′, 35′), D. Miotti 0/1 (75′)
YC – N. Tetaz Chaparro (28′)
RC – J. Mallía (29′)

 

TEAMS

WALES
1 Nicky Smith (17 Gareth Thomas 56′), 2 Elliot Dee (16 Ryan Elias 65′), 3 Dillon Lewis (18 Leon Brown 65′), 4 Ben Carter, 5 Will Rowlands, 6 Ross Moriarty, 7 James Botham (20 Taine Basham 65′), 8 Aaron Wainwright (19 Josh Turnbull 23′ {18 Leon Brown 28′-38′}), 9 Kieran Hardy (21 Tomos Williams 47′), 10 Callum Sheedy (22 Jarrod Evans 47′), 11 Owen Lane, 12 Jonathan Davies (capt.), 13 Willis Halaholo (23 Nick Tompkins 43′), 14 Jonah Holmes, 15 Hallam Amos

ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (17 Facundo Gigena 59′), 2 Julián Montoya (capt.) (16 Facundo Bosch 74′), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela (18 Santiago Medrano 62′), 4 Marcos Kremer (20 Matías Alemanno 65′), 5 Guido Petti, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Facundo Isa (19 Tomás Lavanini 55′), 8 Rodrigo Bruni (17 Facundo Gigena 28′-38′), 9 Tomás Cubelli (21 Gonzalo Bertranou 66′), 10 Nicolás Sánchez (22 Domingo Miotti 69′), 11 Santiago Cordero, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Carreras (23 Santiago Chocobares 27′), 15 Juan Cruz Mallía

 

MATCH OFFCIALS
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistants: Luke Pearce (England) & Karl Dickson (England)
TMO: Claire Hodnett (England)