Argentina Bounce Back Against Japan

Argentina bounced back against Japan on Sunday. Los Pumitas were 45-20 winners over the Asian team. The match was a 9th Place Semi Final at the 2023 Junior World Championship  played at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Los Pumitas scored four tries in the opening half. Names familiar to viewers of Super Rugby Americas 2023 were on fire. Felipe Mallía, Efraín Elías, Agustín Moyano and Mateo Soler all scored in the try zone. Argentina were 17 points ahead at half-time.

Japan made a strong comeback early on in the second-half. A five-star try to Yoshiki Omachi and penalties from Kanjiro Naramoto brought the scoreline back to a four point separation.

Fellow Super Rugby Americas 2023 players provided Los Pumitas with the points in response. Aitor Bildosola and Eliseo Chiavassa scored to ensure a notable advantage was re-established. A final score to Faustino Sanchéz Valarolo took the final score out to 45-20 in favors of the South Americans.

The result sees Argentina into the 9th place Final against Fiji. Both Argentina and Fiji successfully avoided relegation. Fiji’s 41-26 win over Italy sends Italy into a relegation final against Japan.

SCORING

ARGENTINA (45)
Try – F Mallía (7′); E Elías (13′); A Moyano (28′); M Soler (35′); A Bidosola (55′); E Chiavassa (59′); F Sánchez Valarolo (78′)
Con – V Dicapua 3 (14′, 29′, 79′); F Mallía 2 (56′, 60′)
YC – V Dicapua (52′)

JAPAN (20)
Try – Y Omachi (4′); R Oike (46′)
Con – K Naramoto 2 (4′, 46′)
Pen – K Naramoto 2 (51, 53′)

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA
1 Tomás Bartolini, 2 Juan Vivas, 3 Renzo Zanella, 4 Federico Rolotti, 5 Efraín Elías, 6 Facundo García Hamilton, 7 Felipe Bares, 8 Eliseo Chiavassa (capt.), 9 Agustín Moyano, 10 Valentino Dicapua, 11 Ignacio Lucero, 12 Nicolás López González, 13 Ernesto Giudice, 14 Mateo Soler, 15 Felipe Mallía

Replacements: 16 Valentino Minoyetti, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Tomás Repetti, 19 Lorenzo Mateo, 20 Aitor Bildosola, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Juan Baronio, 23 Faustino Sanchéz Valarolo

JAPAN
1 Sena Hwang, 2 Kouta Nagashima, 3 Riku Tomita, 4 Yuzuki Sasaki, 5 Harry Willard, 6 Koki Miyashita, 7 Tomoki Kusuda, 8 Tenta Kobayashi, 9 Asahi Doei, 10 Kanjiro Naramoto, 11 Kosho Muto, 12 Kengo Nonaka, 13 Yoshiki Omachi (capt.), 14 Renji Oike, 15 Yoshitaka Yazaki

Replacements: 16 Takashi Omoto, 17 Tomoki Yumbe, 18 Kosuke Sugiura, 19 Kantaro Taima, 20 Bunsuke Kurita, 21 Taison Mogami, 22 Yutaro Takahashi, 23 Shota Taira