Argentina Impressive in Series Opener Against Scotland

Argentina Completed an impressive win in the series opener against Scotland on Saturday. The 26-18 win puts Los Pumas 1-0 up in what was the first test match since Michael Cheka replaced Mario Ledesma as head coach.

Cheika’s team was rocked with a last minute loss; Tomas Cubelli was ruled-out which saw Gonzalo Bertranou elevated from the replacements. This came after Bertranou had been named on the Argentina XV roster only for Gonzalo Garcia to be ruled-out. With Cubelli dropping out late, Argentina had no scrum-half on the bench. The spot went to veteran winger Juan Imhoff.

Further complications followed. Argentina lost Nicolás Sánchez in the opening quarter. This saw Santiago Carreras coming off the bench to play fly half. The injury to Sánchez follows Benjamin Urdapilleta’s injury playing last Friday for Castres in the Top 14 Final.

The scrum-half and fly half injuries meant Cheek’s troops would be given extra difficulties in the test match. The team was looking to overcome a five match losing-streak against Scotland. Indeed, Argentina’s previous win over Scotland was back in 2011 at the World Cup in Wellington, New Zealand.

A vocal crowd in Jujuy gave Los Pumas the encouragement they needed. They took four minutes to score the first points. Juan Martín González Samso won a turn-over penalty from which Sánchez landed a difficult shot at goal. Scotland responded ten minutes later through a Blair Kinghorn penalty.

An additional exchange of penalties to Sánchez and Kinghorn made it a 6-6 scoreline after 26 minutes of play. Kinghorn’s second strike came after Sánchez had left the field injured.

Argentina adjusted to the loss of their starting fly half. Carreras contributed to rapid-fire phase play in the lead-up to the opening try of the match. Jerónimo de la Fuente scored after Guido Petti had made a break and Marcos Kremer went within inches of touching down on the try line.

Carreras then scored himself. Juan Cruz Mallía showed his true utility value by gathering a deep kick and running it back. He made a clean line-break before passing to Santiago Cordero. Mallía then helped secure the ruck which enabled Carreras to score a simple try. Emiliano Boffelli converted from wide and Los Pumas were 18-6 ahead.

Scotland’s response came in the second half. Mark Bennett and Rory Hutchinson scored back-to-back tries, both of which started from attacking line-outs and ended with backs touching down in the try zone. The tries brought the scores level at 18-18 late in the third quarter.

Los Pumas took no time to regain the lead. Boffelli regathered the kick-off and Argentina immediately attacked. Quick ball found its way to the left with Matías Orlando stopped a meter short. Gonzalo Bertranou replicated Carreras’ earlier try to pounce on a chance as Scotland were outnumbered close to their line.

Boffelli was again involved. This time the left winger landed a penalty to put Los Pumas eight points clear with ten minutes remaining. The 26-18 was deserved. Attention now turns to the second test match in seven days time. The teams will make the short trip south from Jujuy to Salta.

 

SCORING

ARGENTINA 26
Tries – J. de la Fuente (30′), S. Carreras (35′), G. Bertranou (57′)
Cons – E. Boffelli 1/3 (36′)
Pens – N. Sánchez 2/2 (4′, 18′), E. Boffelli 1/1 (71′)

SCOTLAND 18
Tries – M. Bennett (49′), R. Hutchinson (54′)
Cons – B. Kinghorn 1/2 (55′)
Pens – B. Kinghorn 2/2 (16′, 26′)

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (17 Mayco Vivas 58′), 2 Julián Montoya (capt.) (16 Agustín Creevy 60′), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela (18 Joel Sclavi 58′), 4 Guido Petti, 5 Matías Alemanno (19 Lucas Paulos 73′), 6 Juan Martín González Samso, 7 Marcos Kremer (20 Facundo Isa 60′), 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Nicolás Sánchez (22 Santiago Carreras 21′), 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (23 Matías Moroni 57′), 13 Matías Orlando (21 Juan Imhoff 66′), 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía

SCOTLAND
1 Pierre Schoeman (17 Rory Sutherland 61′), 2 George Turner (16 Ewan Ashman 62′), 3 Zander Fagerson (18 Javan Sebastian 61′), 4 Grant Gilchrist (capt.), 5 Jonny Gray (19 Sam Skinner 69′), 6 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Luke Crosbie (20 Rory Darge 54′), 8 Matt Fagerson, 9 Ali Price (21 Ben White 69′), 10 Blair Kinghorn, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 12 Sam Johnson (23 Sione Tuipulotu 74′), 13 Matt Bennett, 14 Darcy Graham, 15 Rory Hutchinson

Not used: 22 Ross Thompson

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistants: Mathieu Raynal (France) & Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)