Argentina Hand Uruguay First Loss in 2018 ARC

The Argentina XV have handed Uruguay their first defeat in the 2018 ARC. Played this evening in Punta del Este the Argentina XV won the battle of Rio de La Plata 34-17.

The Argentina XV’s search for enterprising play has seen errors impact their performance in the past. The same was true early on in this evening’s showing in Punta del Este.

The scoring opened quickly, with Uruguay going 7-0 ahead. It came from Germán Schultz being tackled by Rodrigo Silva. Schulz lost control of the ball which allowed Uruguay to swoop through Juan Manuel Cat who opened the scoring. Germán Albanell added the conversion.

The Argentina XV players were not alarmed. They continued playing high-risk rugby but were quickly 12-0 down. Another mistake from the Argentina XV saw Cat scoring his second try. Looking to run from the deep a hard tackle from Nicolás Freitas gave Diego Magno the ball close to the line. Quick hands saw Cat dotting down in the corner.

Despite the errors and strategic issues the Argentina XV were on top in the scrum. They drove back Uruguay twice, the second seeing Mateo Sanguinetti yellow carded. The Argentina XV went for a push-over try which advanced but holding on from German Schultz saw Uruguay clear their lines with a penalty.

The one man advantage would, nonetheless, see the Argentina XV open their scoring. Their first points came from Juan Cruz González. The CUBA fly half latched on to a loose ball following a hard hitting tackle. He ran 50 meters to score unopposed.

The crumbling Teros scrum would lead to points 10 minutes later. Having won a penalty the Argentina XV kicked for the corner and scored from the resulting line-out. Touching down was Loose Head prop Francisco Ferronato. González added the extras to level the scoring at 12-12 after 33 minutes.

Three minutes later Cruz gave the Argentina XV the lead, doing so from a straight-forward penalty. He would have an additional opportunity on the stroke of half time but was off-target.

Dominating the early exchanges in the second half, Uruguay would reclaim the lead. Scoring in the left corner was Nicolás Freitas, getting past Schulz in a tackle. Schulz immediately made up for it by scoring himself, completing a team try. With the wind complicating matters replacement Lucas Mensa missed the conversion.

The Argentina XV extended their lead ten minutes later. Attack from the backs saw Mensa linking with Rodrigo Etchart. The left winger stepped past Rodrigo Silva to score in the right corner.

With ten minutes remaining Schulz and Mensa combined to punish Los Teros. Looking to run from the deep Schulz tackled Freitas hard resulting in a fumble which Schulz gathered to score. Fullback Juan Cruz Mallía converted to go 34-17 ahead.

With the result the Argentina XV pick up five competition points and Uruguay zero. The Argentina XV are now on 11 points, three fewer than the ARC leading USA who have 14. The Argentina XV play host to Canada next week. The USA travel to South America to face Uruguay.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 17
Tries – J. Cat 2 (7’, 15’), N. Freitas (48’)
Cons – G. Albanell 1/3 (8’)
Pens – G. Albanell 0/2
Drop goals – R. Silva 0/1
Yellow cards – M. Sanguinetti (20’), A. Vilaseca (40’)

ARGENTINA XV 34
Tries – J. González (23’), F. Ferronato (32’), G. Schulz (51’), R. Etchart (62’), L. Mensa (73’)
Cons – J. González 1/2 (33’), J. Mallía 2/3 (63’, 74’)
Pens – J González 1/2 (38’)
Yellow cards – D. Galetto (40’)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (16 Matías Benítez 8-19, 61’), 2 Carlos Pombo (3 Juan Echeverria 77’), 3 Juan Echeverría (18 Mario Sagario 47’), 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Magno, 6 Rodolfo Garese (20 Gonzalo Soto 74’), 7 Manuel Diana (16 Matías Benítez 20’-30’) (21 Juan Manuel Gaminara 47’), 8 Alejandro Nieto (capt.) (19 Juan Diego Ormaechea 50’-58’, 63’), 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Germán Albanell, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat (22 Joaquín Prada 61’), 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Rodrigo Silva (23 Andrés De León 74’)

Not used: 17 Diego de Pazos

ARGENTINA XV
1 Francisco Ferronato (17 Axel Zapata 53’), 2 Diego Fortuny (16 Gaspar Baldunciel 55’), 3 Benjamín Espinal (18 Santiago Medrano 26’), 4 Diego Galetto (19 Santiago Portillo 50’), 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (capt.), 8 Rodrigo Bruni (20 Santiago Montagner 52’), 9 Luca Magnasco (21 Gregorio del Prete 50’), 10 Juan Cruz González (22 Lucas Mensa 47’), 11 Rodrigo Etchart, 12 Juan Cappiello, 13 Santiago Álvarez (23 Tomás Videla 74’), 14 Germán Schulz, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Henrique Platais (CBRu)
Assistants: Rodrigo Goyret (URU) & Gonzalo Ventoso (URU)