Pampas mildly respond to critics against Yacare

Los Pampas responded mildly to critics on Friday. Playing at the Héroes de Curupayty in Asunción the team from Buenos Aires blasted away to an early lead against the Paraguayan side. A superb start was followed by a scoreless second-half.

The damage was done early. Two breaks in the opening six minutes saw Los Pampas already in charge of the scoresheet. First, Joaquín de la Vega Mendía looked like a young Nicolás Sánchez. He broke down the right and set-up Iñaki Delguy for a simple try in the corner. Second, raids saw the team upfield swiftly. Captain Santiago Ruiz used his frame to charge over.

Yacare failed to take their early opportunity. Fly half Federico Cacciabue missed his 8th minute kick at goal. Los Pampas kicked out from the goal line drop-out and were quickly back in Yacare territory. de la Vega Mendía went 2/3 in the 15th minute to put Los Pampas 15-0 ahead.

Scoring slowed for the remainder of the first half. The teams each touched down in the try zone once in the second quarter. Center Manuel Alfaro did so for Los Pampas. The try gave the Argentine side a 22-0 lead. Tight head Facundo Pomponio went over just before half-time to open Yacare’s scoring.

The rugby played in the second-half lacked the speed and intensity of the first. The only time in which the scorers were asked to detail an event was in the 58th minute. It came in the form of a yellow card to de la Vega Mendía.

Los Pampas return to Buenos Aires with four competition points. They move above Yacare to retune to the play-off’s zone. Attention no turns to the currently unbeaten Peñarol; the Uruguayans will place at La Catedral on Wednesday. Yacare remain at home to face Selknam next Saturday.

 

SCORING

YACARE (5)
Try – F Pomponio (38′)
Con – F Cacciabue 0/1
Pen – F Cacciabue 0/1

PAMPAS (22)
Try – I Delguy (3′); S Ruiz (6′); M Alfaro (28′)
Con – J de la Vega Mendía 2/3 (6′, 30′)
Pen – J de la Vega Mendía 1/1 (15′)
YC – J de la Vega Mendía (58′)

 

TEAMS

YACARE
1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Emilio Gorostiaga, 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Felipe Villagrán, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe, 10 Federico Cacciabue, 11 Juan González, 12 Ramiro Amarilla, 13 Tomás Acosta Pimentel, 14 Federico Gauna, 15 Tomás Mac Call

Replacements: 16 Mariano Muntaner, 17 Julián Martín, 18 Estéfano Aranda, 19 Carlos Plate, 20 Juan Cruz Perez Rachel , 21 Diego Miño, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Arturo López

PAMPAS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 5 Federico Lavanini, 6 Nicolás D’Amorim, 7 Jerónimo Ureta, 8 Santiago Ruiz (capt.), 9 Mateo Albanese, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Tomás Passaro, 12 Manuel Alfaro, 13 Benjamín Elizalde, 14 Iñaki Delguy, 15 Juan Ignacio Landó

Replacements: 16 Valentino Minoyetti, 17 Javier Corvalán, 18 Renzo Zanella, 19 Lorenzo Colidio, 20 Eliseo Chiavassa, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Joaquín Lamas, 23 Lucio Auad

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Marquise Goodwin (USA)
Assistant Referees: Federico Solario (AR); José Ibañez (AR)
TMO: Víctor Silvero (BR)