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Los Pampas delivered on Friday in Montevideo. Having fallen to Selknam last weekend, the team from Buenos Aires rebounded a battering across the Andes to overcome the champions in an upset win. Los Pampas battled a powerful team and also torrential rain en route to a 16-10 win.
Remarkably, the win gives Los Pampas the 2023 double over Peñarol. Los Pampas won earlier this season at La Catedral. Peñarol is otherwise unbeaten in Super Rugby Americas 2023. The Uruguayans will now be looking to avoid Los Pampas in the Semi Finals.
Man-of-the-match Joaquín de la Vega Mendía said defense was key to the win. He was bang on; Los Pampas won by holding their line. Players got over the ball to win jackals at key moments. Another factor, however, was de la Vega Mendía’s boot. He kicked his goals while Felipe Etcheverry was 0/4 for the night.
de la Vega Mendía opened the scoring with a try. His 6th minute dummy pass led to a score. It was the only try of the match for Los Pampas. He converted his own try and landed a penalty for a 10-0 lead. It would remain as such until the end of the opening quarter.
Peñarol hit-back to draw level in the second quarter. Tries to the usual suspects made it a 10-10 score. Manuel Diana scored from a tolling-maul while Manuel Ardao went over from a pick-and-go from inches out.
de la Vega Mendía had the final say of the first half. His 40th minute penalty restored Los Pampas’ lead. Their 13-10 half-time lead was expanded upon with two second-half penalties.
Peñarol looked to hit-back with a try. They worked their way into Los Pampas’ 22 on several occasions. The Argentines were able to hold firm and win penalties. This was all happening under heavy rain.
Los Pampas now return across the Rio de la Plata smiling. They play their final match of the regular season against Yacare in Buenos Aires. Peñarol turn their attention to Selknam. El Clásico will take place in Montevideo.
SCORING
PENAROL (10)
Try – M Diana (22′); M Ardao (36′)
Con – F Etcheverry 0/2
Pen – F Etcheverry 0/2
PAMPAS (16)
Try – J de la Vega Mendía (6′)
Con – J de la Vega Mendía 1/1 (7′)
Pen – J de la Vega Mendía 3/3 (15′, 40′, 60′)
TEAMS
PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Manuel Ardao (capt.), 7 Carlos Deus, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Juan Manuel Alonso, 12 Juan Andrés Zuccarino, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Rodrigo Silva
Replacements: 16 Emiliano Faccnnini, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Ignacio Peculo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Juan Francisco Torres, 22 Alfonso Silva, 23 Santiago del Cerro
PAMPAS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Corvalán, 4 Manuel Bernstein, 5 Eliseo Fourcade, 6 Nicolás D’Amorim, 7 Jerónimo Ureta, 8 Santiago Ruiz (capt.), 9 Mateo Albanese, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Tomás Passaro, 12 Felipe de la Vega, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Benjamín Elizalde, 15 Juan Ignacio Landó
Replacements: 16 Rodrigo Pérez Boulan, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Javier Coronel, 19 Lorenzo Colidio, 20 Eliseo Chiavassa, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Eliseo Morales, 23 Joaquín Lamas
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Damian Schneider (AR)
Assistant Referees: Matías Esteban (UY); Cauã Ricardo (BR)
TMO: Alejandro Longes (UY)
