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Los Pumas were convincing winners of Los Leones in Madrid on Saturday. The match was Argentina’s final match before taking to the field for their opening match of the World Cup in France. Argentina conquered Madrid 62-3.
The skills and abilities of Los Pumas were on display in the opening half. Argentina made good decisions and recycled well in attack while also being well organized on defense.
Veteran Nicolás Sánchez played like a man on a mission. Sánchez went 5/5 at goal in the opening half; yet, it was about more than his goal-kicking. In his 98th cap he showed he is not done yet. He was in the thick of the action ninth opening quarter. He made one clean break and another half break. He then set-up the opening try of the match. A dead-accurate cross-kick found Juan Cruz Mallía who scored in the corner.
A second try followed. Rodrigo Isgró broke down the right. Spain looked to re-establish their defensive line but quick ball saw Mallía breaking the line through the middle of the field. A try seemed certain and it came with Joel Sclavi powering-over for his first test try.
The back-to-back tries had come two minutes apart. The next try came after a ten minute gap. The forwards showed they can maul. From a linnet inside their own half a maul advanced 30 meters upfield. A great pass left from Santiago Chocobares was followed by Mateo Carreras cutting inside two defenders to score.
Spain did well to get the ball from the restart. Good work resulted in Los Leones getting into the Argentine 22. They then won advantage from a Pumas infringement and came away with points. Gonzalo Venues slotted a goal to see Spain’s one score of the match 28 minutes into the game.
Los Pumas responded six minutes later. Captain Tomás Cubelli crossed from a pick-and-go. It was the final score of the first-half and the last for a considerable period of time. Los Pumas went to half-time leading 31-3.
The second-half was identical in terms of Argentine points. The difference was when they were scored. Replacement Lautaro Bazán Vélez was over only to be denied as Martiniano Cian hit the ball out of his hands.
The first try went to the enforcer from Concórdia. Marcos Kremer scored from a lineout to maul drive. Kremer broke through the middle and had the strength to get to the try zone with three Leones in his way.
Rosario veteran Jerónimo de la Fuente scored next. He did so in the left corner. He showed he has plenty of speed and skills left in him as he got a good ball from Martín Bogado and then used his vision to get the better of two defenders.
While the replacements bench was emptied, of note is that Nicolás Sánchez played the entire match. He put in a 50-22 which led to the next try. A lineout to maul attack finished with Bogado scoring his first test try. Bogado bumped off Martiniano Cian then stepped around John Wessel Bell and Gonzalo López to score.
The match was not perfect for Argentina. Replacement Santiago Grondona went down hurt. He was carried off the field while in tears; his face made it evident that he will now be ruled out of the World Cup.
Argentina scored two further tries. A clever lineout move saw Guido Petti as a fake jumper as Ignacio Ruiz through to Kremer who did not jump. A maul formed with Facundo Isa thundering into the try zone.
With the match clock having run its course Argentina scored a final try. Bogado made it a double as he combined with Rodrigo Bruni. The clean-break from Bruni saw Bogado cantering over. He appears to have justified the coaching preferring him to Santiago Cordero and Bautista Delguy.
Argentina now turn their attention to England. The Pool D match in Marseille comes with England in crisis. England lost earlier today at home against Fiji. The first ever defeat against the Flying Fijians will be studied hard by Argentina’s staff.
SCORING
SPAIN (3)
Pen – G Vunuesa (28’)
ARGENTINA (62)
Try – JC Mallía (12’); J Sclavi (14’); M Carreras (24’); T Cubelli (34); M Kremer (57’); J de la Fuente (58’); M Bogado 2 (63’, 80′); F Isa (67’)
Con – N Sánchez 7/9 (4’, 15’, 25’, 35’, 58’, 64’, 80’)
Pen – N Sánchez 1/1 (4’)
TEAMS
SPAIN
1 Thierry Futeu 2 Pablo Miejimolle, 3 Bittor Aboitiz, 4 Lucas Guillaume, 5 Alejandro Suárez, 6 Matthew Foulds, 7 Mario Pichardie, 8 Facundo Domínguez, 9 Estanislao Bay, 10 Gonzalo Vunuesa, 11 Federico Casteglioni (capt.), 12 Gonzalo López, 13 Iñaki Mateu, 14 Martiniano Cian, 15 John Wessel Bell
Replacements: 16 Santiago Ovejero, 17 Raúl Calzón, 18 Lucas Santamaría, 19 Raphael Nieto, 20 Víctor Sánchez, 21 Ike Irusta, 22 Bautista Güemes, 23 Jordi Jorba
ARGENTINA
1 Joel Sclavi, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli (capt.), 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 23 Martín Bogado
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Federico Vedovelli (Italy); Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
