Pumitas Fall to England in u20 Championship

Los Pumitas did not get their World u20 Championship campaign off to the desired start. The Argentines were beaten 40-21, at the Athlone Stadium, in Cape Town, by England. The result denied Los Pumitas a bonus point.

Argentina were the better side early-on. Following solid defense in their own half, Los Pumitas then put on the pressure themselves. Franco Rosstto made a half-break down the left wing before off-loading to scrum Genaro Podestá. The scrum-half scored untouched.

Juan Penoucos scored ten minutes later The Pumitas flanker got a superb assist from captain Efraín Elías. Both scores were converted by Santino Di Lucca but it was the end of the Argentine onslaught.

England’s response was four unanswered tries. They came with two either side of half-time. Winger Jack Bracken was the first to score for England and he went on to score a hat-trick. He and fullback Ben Redshaw scored four minutes apart to level the scoring at half-time.

Billy Sela and Henry Pollock gave England the lead early-on in the second-half. Tries to the prop and flanker made it 26-14 after 49 minutes. Efráin Elías hit-back for his side but it was not enough as England punished Los Pumitas with Bracken scoring two more tries.

Los Pumitas must now regather before traveling to Stellenbosch. Argentina face hoss South Africa at Danie Craven Stadium on Thursday, July 04. England remain in Cape Town where they will face Fiji in the second round.

 

SCORING

ARGENTINA (21)
Try – G Podestá (18′); J Penoucos (28′); E Elías (53′)
Con – S Di Lucca (19′, 29′); F Rodríguez (54′)

ENGLAND (40)
Try – J Bracken 3 (33′, 64′, 66′); B Redshaw (37′); B Sela (44′); H Pollock (49′)
Con – S Kerr (34′, 38′, 50′, 64′, 67′)
YC – J Kpoku (65′)

LINEUPS

ARGENTINA
1 Diego Correa, 2 Juan Manuel Vivas, 3 Tomás Rapetti, 4 Efraín Elías (capt.), 5 Álvaro García Iandolino, 6 Juan Penoucos, 7 Santos Fernández de Oliveira, 8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 9 Genaro Podestá, 10 Santino Di Lucca, 11 Franco Rossetto, 12 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, 13 Tomás Bocco, 14 Timoteo Silva, 15 Benjamín Elizalde

ENGLAND
1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Billy Sela, 4 Joe Bailey, 5 Junior Kpoku, 6 Finn Carnduff (capt.), 7 Henry Pollock, 8 Nathan Michelow, 9 Ollie Allan, 10 Josh Bellamy, 11 Alex Wills, 12 Sean Kerr, 13 Oli Spencer, 14 Jack Bracken, 15 Ben Redshaw