Argentina Break Records in big win over Italy

Records were broken in Udine, Italy on Saturday. Argentina scored 50 points against Italy for the first-time and won by a margin of +32 points. The 50-18 victory overtakes Los Pumas’ 36-06 win in Rome in 2002 to now be the highest winning margin.

The contest was both dynamic and physical. Argentina were the better side on attack and also defensively. The structure both created opportunities and, for the most part, shut down Italian raids and phases. The early going saw a strong scrum and the Pumas wingers looked good on attack.

A solid start from the South Americans saw Rodrigo Isgró close to scoring minutes after kick-off. Play continued with referee Matthew Carley awarding a penalty in font of the posts. Man-of-the-Match Tomás Albornoz slotted the kick for a 3-0 lead after 4 minutes.

The visitors ran in seven tries, the first of which came on eleven minutes. Juan Cruz Mallía picked up a loose Italian ball and ran down the sideline. He stepped Louis Lynagh en route to scoring.

Italy’s first scoring opportunity came seven minutes later. Martín Page-Relo missed a long-range penalty. With it Los Pumas led 10-0 at the close of the opening quarter. What followed was a great opportunity for Italy. Replacement Tommaso Allan kicked over Bautista Delguy who was unable to gather the ball. A slight touch gave Italy an attacking lineout. Los Pumas defended well and cleared.

Argentina then punished Italy. Albornoz put up a high ball for Isgró who leaped and won it. Franco Molina then made a break only for the recycled ball to bounce forward off an Italian player. Gonzalo Bertranou lucked out to touch the ball down in the try zone. Albornoz rubbed salt into the wound with a sideline conversion.

Italy responded with brute force. Good work from the home side was rewarded with Juan Martín González yellow carded for collapsing a maul. Italy were also awarded a penalty try. Further Italian pressure was rewarded with Tommaso Allan adding a penalty with time up in the opening half.

Allan was again on the scorecard early on in the second half. He slotted a penalty to make it a 18-13 scoreline. Argentina responded with a try of their own; however, the story was overall dominance for the remainder of the match.

Los Pumas went over on 49 minutes. El Toro, Joel Sclavi finished off a maul from an attacking lineout. Albornoz added the conversion. The Tucumano then scored a try of his own. He punished Italy by launching a counter attack from 90 meters out. His kick was not taken well by Louis Lynagh. The lose ball sat up for Bautista Delguy who kicked with the rebound favoring Albornoz for the try.

Los Pumas’ forwards had come alive. A 30 meter maul saw space opening for phases to follow. Matías Moroni then made a break before passing to Santiago Cordero who cut inside to score. It was a return of the favor from Moroni’s famous try against Ireland in the Rugby World Cup 2015 Quarter Final win in Cardiff, Wales.

Italy’s replacement hooker Giacomo Nicotera canceled it out with a lineout to maul score. The unconverted try ended Italy’s scoring for the night. Meanwhile, Argentina went over for two more tries. Matías Alemanno replicated Franco Molina’s try in Wellington, New Zealand against the All Blacks.

Italy finished the game with 14 men. N8 Lorenzo Cannone was yellow carded in the final 10 minutes for shoulder to head contact on Gonzalo García. Argentine smiles returned with Bautista Delguy scoring two minutes from full-time. The Clermont winger was in the right place at the right time following a break from Juan Martín González.

Both Argentina and Italy will be in action again next weekend. Italy play host to Georgia in Genoa on Sunday, November 17. Argentina have two less days before facing Ireland in Dublin on Friday.

 

SCORING

ITALY (18)
Try – Penalty Try (33′); G Nicotera (67′)
Con – No Kick (33′)
Pen – T Allan (40+4′, 43′)
YC – L Cannone (75′)

ARGENTINA (50)
Try (7) – JC Mallía (11′); G Bertranou (29′); J Sclavi (49′), T Albornoz (57′), S Cordero (66′), M Alemanno (74′); B Delguy (78′)
Con (6) – T Albornoz (12′, 30′, 49′, 57′, 75′, 78′)
Pen (1) – T Albornoz (4′)
YC (1) – JM González (33′)

 

LINE-UPS

ITALY
1 Mirco Spagnolo, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro (capt.), 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 9 Martín Page-Relo, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 14 Louis Lynagh, 15 Ange Capuozzo

Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Marco Zanon

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Juan Martín González (vice-capt.), 7 Santiago Grondona, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Bautista Delguy, 12 Matías Orlando, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía (vice-capt.)

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Matías Moroni, 23 Santiago Cordero

 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Búnker: Marius Jonker (South Africa)