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Paraguay celebrated a home win over Tucumán on Wednesday. The Paraguayans defeated the Argentine province by 31-23 at the Estádio Héroes de Curupayti in Asunción. The match was game four of six of the Cross Border competition.
Los Naranjas fielded an experimental line-up against a Paraguayan team stacked with players from the Olímpia Lions. There was nonetheless some rotation with regular starting fly half Sebastián Urbieta on the bench. Martín Sitjar and Gianfranco Parodi were additional names of note who featured as replacements.
It was Tucumán who scored first. Las Naranjas did so with prop Franco Gómez touching down in the try zone. José Gianotti added the conversion. Paraguay hit-back first with a penalty and then with a try of their own. The 17th mintue score made it 8-7 in favor of the home side.
Tucumán reclaimed the lead in the 24th minute. The penalty was responded to by Paraguay; however,Los Naranjas then added two more before a final first-half penalty to Paraguay made it a 16-14 in favor of thr visiting side at half-time.
Paraguay opened the second-half scoring. A quick tap from a scrum free-kick saw Paraguay running deep into the Tucumán 22. Paraguay spun the ball wide and touched down in the corner. Héctor Gayoso provided the assist pass and landed the sideline conversion.
21-16 became 28-16. Paraguay went further ahead with another try. They kicked deep from a penalty and set-up a lineout. In a remarkable move, Julián Martín, ran 20 meters to score a classic hooker’s try. The defense was fooled with the move and with his charge ahead.
The lead was extended with a penalty. Captain Nicolás Gentile then scored Tucumán only second half try. He did so by breaking off a rolling maul. The conversion was good but Tucumán were not within reach. Tucumán were eight points behind with under two minutes left to play.
The Cross Border will conclude on Saturday. The final round will also be played in Asunción. Paraguay woll take-on Brazil in a non-capped international. Rankings will not be on the line. Tucumán will play against Argentine provincial rivals Córdoba.
PARAGUAY
1 Gastón Salvi, 2 Emilio Gorostiaga, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Carlos Plate, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Federico Villagrán, 7 Mateo Rodríguez, 8 Marcelo Riquelme (capt.), 9 Diego Miño, 10 Héctor Gayoso, 11 Juan González, 12 Ramiro Amarilla, 13 Baltazar Ozú, 14 Federico Gauna, 15 Arturo López
Replacements: 16 Julián Martín, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Martín Sitjar, 19 Álvaro Báez, 20 Ignacio Martínez, 21 Santiago Schwarz, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Gianfranco Parodi
TUCUMÁN
1 Franco Gómez, 2 Raúl Guraiib, 3 Fabrício Navarro Luna, 4 Ignacio Pascal, 5 Nicolás Gentile (capt.), 6 Elisio Auad, 7 Luciano Chippitelli, 8 Sanitago Ygel, 9 Juan Martín Herrera, 10 José Gianotti, 11 Santiago Abi Cheble, 12 Luciano Valdez, 13 Joaquín Bourguignon, 14 Gonzalo Heredia, 15 Nicolás Macome
Replacements: 16 Mariano Bustamante, 17 Rodrigo Navarro, 18 Federico Lazarte, 19 Bruno Molina, 20 Tomás del Pero, 21 Mario Fernández, 22 Bautista Estofán, 23 Ignacio Cerrutti
