Cobras and Raptors Put on a Rollercoaster Contest

Os Cobras and the American Raptors put on a rollercoaster contest on Saturday. Played at the Poliesportivo Municipal Du Cambuzano in Jacareí, the teams scored 85 points between them with five points separating the teams on full-time.

What a contest it was. The 45-40 final scoreline came after a huge come-back from the home side. The Raptors were sitting pretty with a 37-14 half-time lead. It looked as if a victory had been secured; however, this was a match which was only decided with the final play.

Twelve tries in all were scored. The first went to Mikey Grandy. The Raptors second-rower scored in the opening minute. The Raptors hit-back to level the scoring before former Puma Ignacio Mieres re-established the lead with a penalty.

The Raptors then went about their work. The Colorado team dominated most of the remainder of the opening half. Winger Francisco Quinn scored as did flanker Shawn Clark, via a charge down, and former Scotland winger Rufus McLean. The pick of the tries saw McLean gathering a high ball and running in from afar.

Os Cobras’ heads were down and a miracle was needed. It came with two Argentines combining. Franco Carrera made a clean line-break and found Agustín Llano in support. He just managed to score in the right corner. With it cam a 37-14 half-time deficit.

The second-half started with a bang. André Arruda scored his second and Ariel Rodríguez then scored to make it a 9 point ball-game and Os Cobras had secured the 4-try bonus point. Tomi Morani then hit-back for the Raptors. He did so when his side were a man down.

Moroni’s try was the last from the Americans. The home side won the final quarter with Lorenzo Lorenzo Massari Temer and João Amaral scoring tries. Quinn landed a penalty three minutes before full-time to have some breathing space before Amaral went over.

The game will be remembered as a high-scoring thriller. It was also a match which saw the Raptors avoiding the wooden spoon. The Raptors now have 16 competition points, six more than Os Cobras who are bottom with 10.

Os Cobras have one match remaining while the Raptors have two. The Colorado side can technically finish higher than the present position of 6th. Doing so will require wins over Yacare in Asunción and Selknam in Santiago over the coming weekends. Os Cobras finish their campaign away against the league-leading Pampas on May 24.

SCORING

COBRAS (40)
Try (6) – A Arruda 2 (8′, 48′); A Llano (35′); A Rodrigues (54′); L Massari Temer (69′); J Amaral (79′)
Con (3) – L Tranquez (9′, 35, 48′); J Amaral (54′, 70′)
YC (2) – R Tenório (17′); L Gabellieri (76′)

RAPTORS (45)
Try (6) – M Grandy (1′); F Quinn 2 (16′, 25′); S Clark (22′); R McLean (31′); Morani (59′)
Con (3) – I Mieres (2′, 18′, 22′)
Pen (3)- I Mieres (13′, 29′); F Quinn (77′)
YC (1) – K Baker (57′)

LINEUPS

COBRAS
1 Luciano Gabelliere, 2 Henrique Ferreira, 3 Francisco Moreno, 4 Franco Carrera, 5 Gabriel Oliveira, 6 Cleber Días (capt.) 7 Matheus Cláudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Felipe Gonçalves, 10 Lucas Tranquez, 11 Ariel Rodrigues, 12 Robert Tenório, 13 Lorenzo Massari Temer, 14 Robson Morais, 15 Agustín Llano

Replacements: 16 Endy Willian Pinheiro, 17 Levy Marinho, 18 Hélder Bryan Lúcio, 19 Gabriel Paganini, 20 Adrio de Melo, 21 Rafael Teixeira, 22 Lucas Spago, 23 João Amaral

RAPTORS
1 Ma’ake Muti, 2 Diego Fortuny (capt.), 3 Koby Baker, 4 Will Crawford, 5 Mikey Grandy, 6 Shawn Clark, 7 Tommy Clark, 8 Diego Magno, 9 John Lefevre, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 11 Francisco Quinn, 12 Aki Pulu, 13 Tomi Morani, 14 Jacob Hidalgo, 15 Rufus McLean

Replacements: 16 Jackson Zabierek, 17 Clay Markoff, 18 Justus Tavai, 19 Tavius Sykora-Matthess, 20 Watson Filikitonga, 21 Devereaux Ferris, 22 Zach Hall, 23 Daytwon Sheridan

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

OFFICIALS

Referee: Frank Méndez (CL)
Assistants: Simón Larrubia (AR); Lucas Saccomanno (AR)
TMO: Victor Hugo Barboza (BR)