Argentina Storm to Biggest ever Win over Uruguay

Argentina completed their biggest ever win over Uruguay on Saturday. Los Pumas were 79-5 winners over Los Teros on a winter’s day at Punta del Este. It was an unacceptable performant by Rodolfo Ambrosio’s Uruguay; Los Teros were a shadow of the team that had been competitive ten days earlier against France.

Uruguay won over many neutrals at Rugby World Cup 2023. Los Teros were competitive in three of their four matches. Uruguay pushed France and Italy before defeating Namibia. Uruguay were then cleanly beaten by New Zealand.

Rather than replicate the positives, it was the disappointing performance against New Zealand which Uruguay replicated at home on Saturday. In fact, Argentina outplayed Uruguay more so than did the All Blacks in their powerful performance against Los Teros in Lyon.

Argentina were so dominant that they had 75% territory and 73% possession in the first-half. They finished with 1149 running meter compared to 210 for Uruguay. One player who took the opportunity against Uruguay is Ignacio Mendy. In his second test match, and first in three years, Mendy scored a hat-trick. He opened the scoring after getting a cut-out-pass from Benetton teammate Tomás Albornoz.

One try became two for Mendy in the 10th minute. After Uruguay lost control of the ball, debutant Joaquín Moro picked-up and ran ahead. He found Mendy who had the gas and skills to finish it off. Albornoz missed both conversions but landed a penalty minutes later.

Mendy was involved again for the third try as he and Santiago Cordero combined before freeing up Jerónimo de la Fuente who scored. Next, Mateo Carreras bumped off two defenders before linking with Albonroz who had the try assist for Cordero.

Los Pumas scored three more tries before half-time. First, de la Fuente combined with Moro who went low to avoid two tackles. Second, a Mendy break was followed by pick-an-go phases with Joaquín Oviedo scoring. Third, Mateo Carreras stepped around Ignacio Álvarez to score.

The second-half opened with Mendy claiming his hat-trick. He latched on to a brilliant cut-out-pass from Albornoz to score untouched. In response, Uruguay finally found some rhythm. After some enterprising play, debutant Juan Bautista Hontou went over in the left corner.

Debuting Puma Francisco Coria Marchetti scored in response. It was a soft try after an overthrown lineout close to the try zone. Both Mateo Carreras and Joaquín Moro then scored their second tries. Both were as support runners. The final try was coast to coast with Santiago Cordero finishing it off under the posts.

Contepomi will now finalize his roster of the Rugby Championship. Uruguay, meanwhile, have one more July test match. Los Teros must improve smartly before facing Scotland next Saturday in Montevideo. Scotland are unbeaten against Canada, the USA and Chile this month.

SCORING

URUGUAY (5)
Try (1) – JB Hontou (45′)

ARGENTINA (79)
Try (12) – I Mendy 3 (4′, 10′, 42′); J de la Fuente (26′); S Cordero (28′); J Moro 2 (33′, 66′); J Oviedo (37′); M Carreras 2 (40′, 62′); F Coria Marchetti (50′); S Carreras (75′)
Con – T Albornoz (27′, 29′, 34′, 42′, 51′, 63′, 67′, 76′)
Pen (1) – T Albornoz (19′)

LINEUPS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Reinaldo Piussi, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Juan Manuel Alonso, 15 Ignacio Álvarez

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Ignacio Peculo, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Carlos Deus, 22 Joaquín Suárez, 23 Juan Bautista Hontou

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Ignacio Ruiz, 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Joaquín Moro, 7 Marcos Kremer (capt.), 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Santiago Chocobares, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 15 Santiago Cordero

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Calles, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 Gonzalo García, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Matías Orlando

MATCH VIDEO

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Ramos (France)
Assistants: Chris Busby (Ireland); Frank Méndez (Chile)