Second half surge sees Argentina XV past Portugal

A strong second half saw the Argentina XV come from behind to beat Portugal 52-35 at the Estádio do Restelo in Lisbon on Saturday. It’s the second week in a row that Argentina’s second choice side have overturned a full test lineup in the top 20 of the World Rankings, following on the upset win over Georgia.

The first score came at the end of a long breakout from the Argentines. Martín Bogado started the move from his own end. Tomás Albornoz and Lucas Mensa took it to within 5 meters of the line, and when the ball was recycled Mateo Carreras crossed on the right side.

Os Lobos responded quickly. Nuno Guedes made ground up the middle, and after two penalties were conceded the forwards crashed ahead until Rafael Simões went over from close range. Samuel Marques landed the conversion to bring the scores level.

A poor throw at the lineout gave Portugal a scrum out-in on halfway, and when Guedes chipped ahead it was Raffaele Storti who won the race for a second try in quick succession. Moments later a break by Tomás Lezana was stopped just short and Albornoz found Carreras with cross-kick, but the winger knocked-on in the last-gasp tackle from Rodrigo Marta.

Marques stretched Portugal’s lead with a penalty goal from 40 meters in front of the posts. The Argentines replied with a try to Santiago Socino after taking a short offload from Francisco Gorrissen. A tremendous kick from halfway by Marques soon after made it a six-point game.

The lead grew to 11 when Storti grabbed his second on the end of another grubber kick, this time from Manuel Cardoso Pinto. Argentina clawed back when a Guedes knocked-on inside his own 22 and Carreras popped up on his opposite wing to slice through for a brace. Marques had a shot at goal on the stroke of halftime from a tough angle but the flags stayed down.

A scorching break by Guedes saw Portugal score in the first play of the second half. The fullback stepped past three defenders before offload to Marques. One breakdown later and Manuel Cardoso Pinto was in for a try, with Marques adding the extras.

Cardoso Pinto then came off his wing to the midfield for another line break. When Tomás Appleton was stopped just short on the right side the ball went wide left to Guedes, but he lost control while diving for the line. Portugal were on advantage and turned down a shot at goal but could not find any points.

The Argentines regained possession and worked their way down the pitch until Carreras again found his way through for a hat trick. Five minutes later they were in again to take the lead, this time Bautista Bernasconi bashed his way in after spinning away from a rolling maul. Albornoz made it five-from-five off the tee with conversion from wide out.

A third penalty from Marques brought the scores even with 20 minutes to play. The game then paused when a Portuguese player collided with the referee, forcing Sam Grove-White off with an ankle injury. Gianluca Gnecchi stepped in from the sideline to take control of the last 14 minutes of the game.

When play resumed Geronimo Prisciantelli, now on for Albornoz, cut through a gap and sent Mensa in for the decisive score. Prisciantelli would add the conversion and tack on a penalty goal. With a minute to play Nicolas D’Amorim scored the final try with the last act going to Prisciantelli.

 

SCORING

PORTUGAL 35
Tries – R. Simões (11′), S. Storti 2 (14′, 31′), M. Cardoso Pinto (41′)
Cons – S. Marques 2/3 (12′, 15′)
Pens – S. Marques 3/4 (18′, 27′, 59′)

ARGENTINA XV 52
Tries – M. Carreras 3 (5′, 36′, 51′), S. Socino (21′), B. Bernasconi (56′), L. Mensa (71′), N. D’Amorim (79′)
Cons – T. Albornoz 5/5 (6′, 22′, 37′, 52′, 57′), G. Prisciantelli 2/2 (72′, 80′)
Pens – G. Prisciantelli 1/1 (77′)

 

TEAMS

PORTUGAL
1 Francisco Fernandes (16 David Costa 70′), 2 Mike Tadjer (17 Nuno Mascarenhas 64′), 3 Anthony Alves (18 Diogo Ferreira HT), 4 Duarte Torgal (20 Vasco Baptista 57′), 5 José Madeira, 6 João Granate, 7 Thibault de Freitas, 8 Rafael Simões (19 Martim Belo HT), 9 Samuel Marques (21 Duarte Azevedo 70′), 10 Jerónimo Portela, 11 Manuel Cardoso Pinto (23 Simão Bento 54′), 12 Tomás Appleton (capt.) (22 José Lima 66′), 13 Rodrigo Marta, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Nuno Guedes

ARGENTINA XV
1 Facundo Gigena (17 Ignacio Calles 46′), 2 Santiago Socino (16 Bautista Bernasconi 46′), 3 Santiago Medrano (18 Javier Coronel 46′), 4 Nahuel Milán, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Tomás Lezana (20 Nicolás D’Amorim 59′), 7 Francisco Gorrissen (capt.), 8 Santiago Ruiz (19 Joaquín Oviedo 48′), 9 Eliseo Morales (21 Sebastián Cancelliere 66′), 10 Tomás Albornoz (22 Gerónimo Prisciantelli 66′), 11 Julián Domínguez (23 Facundo Cordero HT), 12 Lucas Mensa, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Mateo Carreras, 15 Martín Bogado

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)*
Assistants: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy) & Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Matteo Lipperini (Italy)

*Gianluca Gnecchi stepped in to referee at 66 minutes after Sam Grove-White was injured