Pampas Crush Peñarol in Record Win at Charrúa

Peñarol were crushed at home by Los Pampas on Friday. The record-breaking win underlines Los Pampas as the favorites to got all the way at win Super Rugby Americas 2024. The Buenos Aires team scored 63 unanswered points to hammer the two time defending Super Rugby Americas champions in Montevideo.

Nicolás D’Amorim marked down his name as a Puma in waiting. The flanker scored four tries, adding more to his name in what has been an outstanding season. His first came in the 15th minute. Before then Peñarol were 8-0 up thanks to a penalty and a try to veteran loose head Mateo Sanguinetti.

Sanguinetti’s score was from a lineout to maul attack. D’Amorim’s response came by gathering a loose ball and breaking two tackles. It meant an 8-7 opening quarter scoreline.

Los Pampas took total control in the second quarter. Speed and hands from the backs saw Jerónimo Ulloa scoring down the left. Center Juan Pablo Castro was involved in Ulloa’s try. Four minutes later he bumped off three defenders to score.

The flood of Pampas tries was far from over. Ulloa off-loaded in a tackle to Santiago Pernas. The right winger provided an assist for D’Amorim. Pernas then ran down the right and kicked over the defense. Manuel Nogués got the bounce of the ball to score.

D’Amorim opened the second-half scoring. His third try was followed by a penalty try from a scrum. It was a double blow for Peñarol as Sanguinetti was yellow carded. Scrum-half Simón Benítez Cruz then split the defense to give Argentina XV second-rower Rodrigo Fernández Criado a free run in to score.

The fourth D’Amorim try came at the close of the third quarter. Like Fernández Criado, he had a run in score with Peñarol’s young team clearly beaten. However, there was a lot of fight still in the Uruguayans. Juan Manuel Alonso, Juan Bautista Hontou and Joaquín Myszka went over for three tries in eight minutes to miraculously give Peñarol a bonus point.

Despite Peñarol coming out of the loss with a competition point, the match result still gives Selknam hope. The Chileans were hammered 54-0 last weekend in Buenos Aires. They face Los Dogos in Santiago on Saturday. The pressure is now firmly on Selknam to win at home.

SCORING

PENAROL (25)
Try (4) – M Sanguinetti (10′); JM Alonso (65′); JB Hontou (68′); J Myszka (73′)
Con (2) – I Álvarez (68′, 73′)
Pen (1) – I Álvarez (2′)
YC (1) – M Sanguinetti (51′)

PAMPAS (63)
Try (9) – N D’Amorim 4 (15′, 32′, 41′, 60′); J Ulloa (22′); JP Castro (26′); M Nogués (35′); Penalty Try (52′), R Fernández Criado (56′)
Con (7) – J de la Vega Mendía 7 (16′, 23′, 27′, 33′, 36′, 42′, 57′)

LINEUPS

PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Leonel Oviedo, 3 Mathias Franco, 4 Manuel Rosmarino, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Santiago Civetta (capt.), 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Carlos Deus, 9 Pedro Hoblog, 10 Ícaro Amarillo, 11 Dante Soto, 12 Joaquín Suárez, 13 Juan Manuel Alonso, 14 Juan Bautista Hontou, 15 Ignacio Álvarez

Replacements: 16 Joaquín Myszka, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Horacio de la Mota, 19 Agustín Morales, 20 Manuel Diana, 21 Santiago Álvarez, 22 Santiago Terra, 23 Jhon Jader Quiñones

PAMPAS
1 Facundo Scaiano, 2 Ignacio Bottazzini, 3 Estanislao Carullo, 4 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 5 Marcelo Toledo, 6 Manuel Bernstein (capt.), 7 Nicolás D´Ámorim, 8 Joaquín Moro, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Jerónimo Ulloa, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Santiago Pernas, 15 Manuel Nogúes

Replacements: 16 Ramiro Gurovich, 17 Renzo Zanella, 18 Javier Coronel, 19 Mateo Lorenzo, 20 Santiago Montagner, 21 Bernabé López Fleming, 22 Bruno Heit, 23 Marcos Eliçagaray

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (AR)
Assistants: Roberto Barreiro (AR); Tomás Ninci (AR)
TMO: Francisco Pesce (AR)