Impressive Argentina win South American u19 title

Argentina are the 2022 South American u19 champions. Los Pumitas secured the title on Wednesday with a dominant display against Chile. Argentina won the match 99-0 at Paysandú, Uruguay. It followed a 47-15 win over Uruguay also at Paysandú on Saturday.

Argentina’s place as the very best in South America, and all of the Americas, remains. Los Pumitas are the result of a pathway system wherein the country’s best young players are able to develop in High Performance Centers and be ready for international duty. Some, like Santiago Cordero and Marcos Kremer, have been Pumas while still teenagers.

Professional opportunities are just around the corner for some; the 2023 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) will be sure to feature more than one or two names from Argentina’s u19 roster. Flanker and captain Eliseo Chiavassa featured for Los Jaguares XV in SLAR 2022.

Chiavassa’s side enjoyed the lion’s share of possession against Chile. Los Pumitas transformed it into fifteen tries in a performance that finished just one point short of 100 points.

Argentina crossed for seven first half tries. Fly half Valentino Dicapua converted all of them. He was also a try scorer himself. The seven from seven first-half performance meant Argentina held a 49-0 lead at half-time.

Los Pumitas were too fast, too strong and too technically advanced for their opponents. Scrum-half Genaro Podestá went over for the first score, doing so after a break from Chiavassa. Winger Mateo Fauda, fullback Mateo Soler and 17-year-old second-rower Alejandro Barrios also all scored.

Podestá, Soller and Barrios all scored again in the second-half. Agustín Moyano, Efraín Elías, Mateo Fauda and Faustino Ledesma also touched down. Valentino Dicapua was substituted by Juan Bautista Baronio who converted three tries.

Attention now turns to Sunday’s match between Uruguay and Chile. The winner of the contest will qualify for the 2023 World Rugby Junior World Trophy. Both the World Rugby U20 Championship and World Rugby U20 Trophy return after three years of no activity. Argentina will compete in the 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship.

Chile or Uruguay will represent South America in the Junior World Trophy. The 2022 South American u20’s will conclude this coming Sunday. Uruguay will take on Chile in the final fixture. The match will also be played at Trébol de Paysandú.

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA
1 Francisco Palazzi, 2 Santos Juárez, 3 Renzo Zanella, 4 Federico Rolotti, 5 Efraín Elías, 6 Eliseo Chiavassa (capt.), 7 Manuel Todaro, 8 Benjamín Grondona, 9 Genaro Podestá, 10 Valentino Dicapua, 11 Mateo Fauda, 12 Tomás Medina, 13 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, 14 Ernesto Giudice, 15 Mateo Soler

Replacements: 16 Faustino Ledesma, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Esteban Acosta, 19 Alejandro Barrios, 20 Francisco Udrisard, 21 Agustín Moyano, 22 Juan Bautista Baronio, 23 Simón Salcedo

 

CHILE
1 Benjamín Canales, 2 Santiago Bartucevic, 3 Ignacio González, 4 Agustín Lynch, 5 Bruno Sáez, 6 Joaquín Borquez, 7 Lorenzo Gutiérrez, 8 Franco Constantino, 9 Sebastián Bianchi, 10 Manuel Bustamante (capt.), 11 Maximiliano Robles, 12 Juan Noriega, 13 Federico Contreras, 14 Álvaro Castro, 15 Damián Fliegel

Replacements: 16 Benjamín Torres, 17 Alonso Quiroga, 19 Matías Vega, Santiago Valenzuela, 21 Antonio Corbella, 22 Iñaki Tuset y 23 Martín Escobar