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A magnificent performance from Argentina saw Los Pumitas outperforming the Junior Springboks at their own game. Played at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, Argentina outmuscled South Africa in a dominant display on Thursday. The 31-12 win was Argentina’s third over South Africa at u20 level.
Los Pumitas put on a dominant first-half. They are very combative and forced South Africa to play in their own half where they were not comfortable. Juan Greising Revol scored a double. His first try showcased Argentina using a South African weapon against them as he scored from a lineout to maul. His second was also from a maul.
Argentina were cool and collected with Tomás Di Biase organizing play superbly from scrum-half. With the forwards gaining ground space opened up for Juan Pedro Bernasconi to run into the touch zone down the right hand side. Goal-kicking was off-target ; nonetheless, Argentina were 17-0 ahead at half-time.
The hard-work continued in the second-half. As in the first, Argentina won the majority of the battles in the contact area. Pressure saw South Africa failing to secure clean-ball from a defensive lineout. The Toulouse bound Efraín Elías made them pay as he scored his second try of the tournament.
The Junior Springboks opened their scoring on 52 minutes. Referee Takehito Namekawa awarded the home side a penalty try and yellow carded Felipe Bruno Schmidt for illegally driving at a lineout. A period of no scoring from other team followed.
Argentina scored 10 minutes from full-time to open up a 31-7 lead. Flanker Juan Penoucos scored a charged down try after Liam Koen was unable to clear fast enough. A second Pumitas yellow card was given with time up. Bathobele Hlekani then scored in extra time to end the contest.
| SCORING |
ARGENTINA (31)
Try (5) – J Greising Revol 2 (2′, 22′), JP Bernasconi (6′), E Elías (47′), J Penoucos (70′)
Con (3) – S Di Lucca (3′, 48′, 70′)
YC (2) – F Bruno Schmidt (52′), F Ledesma (80′ +1)
SOUTH AFRICA (12)
Try (2) – Penalty Try (51′), B Hlekani (41′)
Con (1) – No Kick (51′)
| LINEUPS |
ARGENTINA
1 Diego Correa, 2 Juan Greising Revol, 3 Tomás Rapetti, 4 Efraín Elías (capt.), 5 Felipe Bruno Schmidt, 6 Juan Penoucos, 7 Santos Fernández de Oliveira, 8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 9 Tomás Di Biase, 10 Santino Di Lucca, 11 Franco Rossetto, 12 Tomás Medina, 13 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, 14 Timoteo Silva, 15 Benjamín Elizalde
Replacements: 44′ Felipe Ledesma (Tomás Medina *blood*), 53′ Jerónimo Llorens (Tomás Di Biase), 56′ Joaquín Yakiche + Juan Manuel Vivas ( Diego Correa + Juan Greising Revol), 63′ Álvaro García Iandolino + Agustín Sarelli (Felipe Bruno + Juan Pedro Bernasconi), 69 Felipe Ledesma (Franco Rossetto), 73′ Gael Galván (Tomás Rapetti).
SOUTH AFRICA
1 Ruan Swart, 2 Luca Bakkes, 3 Zachary Porthen (capt.), 4 Jaco Grobbelaar, 5 JF van Heerden, 6 Thabang Mphafi, 7 Bathobele Hlekani, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 9 Asad Moos, 10 Liam Koen, 11 Litelihle Bester, 12 Phillip-Albert van Niekerk, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 14 Joel Leotlela, 15 Bruce Sherwood
Replacements: 29′ Thomas Dyer (Jaco Grobbelaar), 46′ Sibabalwe Mahashe (Thabang Mphafi), 48′ Casper Badenhorst (Ruan Swart), 58′ Ethan Bester (Luca Bakkes), 66′ Keanu Coetsee (Tiaan Jacobs), 69′ Joshua Boulle (Joel Leotlela), 70′ Tylor Sefoor (Bruce Sherwood), 75′ Liyema Ntshanga (Zachary Porthen)
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
