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The year 2017 was not the greatest for Argentina. Los Pumas had an overall record of 2-10 for the year. A lot was not falling into place. This included an uninspiring Super Rugby campaign and a selection policy of Jaguares-only for Los Pumas.
Argentina’s trip to Florence, Italy was a must-win game for the South Americans. A lackluster year had the selection policy of Jaguares-only for Los Pumas under serious questions. Fans were tired of losing repeatedly. For the Daniel Hourcade regime this match was critical. With Mario Ledesma arriving to take-over at Los Jaguares there could only be one outcome for Hourcade to retain his post.
Click here to access the complete match report.
While it was not known at the time, the match would bring down the curtain on one of the all-time greats. Juan Martín Hernández earned his 74th, and final, cap for Argentina. He would retire from rugby during the 2018 Super Rugby season.
SCORING
ITALY (15)
Penalty: Canna (4)
Drop-Goal: Violi
ARGENTINA (31)
Try: Cancelliere, Kremer, Tuculet
Conversion: Sánchez (2)
Penalty: Hernández, Sánchez (3)
TEAMS
ITALY
1 Andrea Lovotti, 2 Luca Bigi, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Marco Fuser, 5 Dean Budd, 6 Francesco Minto, 7 Braam Steyn, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt.), 9 Marcello Violi, 10 Carlo Canna, 11 Mattia Bellini, 12 Tommaso Castello, 13 Tommaso Boni, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 15 Jayden Hayward
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Giovanni Licara, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Matteo Minozzi
ARGENTINA
1 Santiago García Botta, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Joaquín Tuculet
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Benjamín Macome, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Juan Martín Hernández, 23 Matías Moroni
