Strong Start Sees Pampas eat Cobras alive

Los Pampas can smell the Semi Finals. The Buenos Aires team started very well on Friday. They ate Os Cobras alive early on as the bonus point was wrapped up long before half-time. They slowed down thereafter as they went on to beat the Brazilian side 38-14.

Fans in attendance at La Catedral were treated to a bonus point win in the opening quarter. Nicolás D’Amorim opened the scoring before the first minute had been played. The flanker’s ry was converted by Joaquín de la Vega Mendía.

Like his brother has done many times at the highest level, Iñaki Delguy out on his jet shoes for the game’s second try. Delguy’s score was followed by he first of two from center Benjamín Elizalde. It was impressive as the player started the break before providing support following four passes and one off the floor from Manuel Bernstein.

Elizalde’s second try was punishing for the Brazilians. Sloppy play saw Guilherme Coghueto mishandling a pass. Elizalde gladly accepted the loose ball and went over. With it the bonus point was secure and Los Pampas held a 26-0 lead after 17 minutes.

The remainder of the match was different. In fact, the teams scored two tries each with Os Cobras outscoring Los Pampas 14-12. Joaquín de la Vega Mendía scored a try late in the first half before the teams traded tries in the opening seven minutes of the second half.

With points hard to come-by from the 48th minute onwards frustration crept in. Los Pampas captain Juan Pablo Castro was guilty of giving away three penalties for over aggression. The penalty count boiled over in the 67th minute with Juan Landó yellow carded and Rodrigo Fernández Criado following immediately with a penalty try.

Os Cobras went on to face a twelve-man Pampas for a brief period with Miguel Prince also yellow cared. The Brazilian side had opportunities to score but missed out due to a foot in touch on one occasion and a knock-on two meters out on another.

Both teams will be on the road next round. Los Pampas travel from Buenos Aires to Córdoba to face Los Dogos. Os Cobras fly across the Andes to face Selknam in Santiago. The winner of the former match will edge closer to a home semi final. The winner of the latter will pile the pressure on Yacare for a Top 4 spot.

 

SCORING

PAMPAS (38)
Try – N D’Amorin (1′); I Delguy (8′); B Elizalde (10′, 17′); J de la Vega Mendía (38′), R Pérez Boulan (47′)
Con – J de la Vega Mendía 4/6 (2′, 10′, 18′, 48′)
YC – J Landó (67′); R Fernández Criado (68′); M Prince (76′)

COBRAS (14)
Try – L Marinho (44′); Penalty Try (68′)
Con – L Tranquez 1/1 (45′); No Kick

TEAMS

PAMPAS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Rodrigo Pérez Boulan, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Nicolás D’Amorim, 7 Manuel Bernstein, 8 Jerónimo Ureta, 9 Eliseo Morales, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Lucio Auad, 12 Juan Pablo Castro (capt.), 13 Benjamín Elizalde, 14 Iñaki Delguy, 15 Juan Landó

Replacements: 16  Matías Medrano, 17 Miguel Prince, 18 Javier Corvolán, 19 Lorenzo Collidio, 20 Eliseo Chiavassa, 21 Rafael Iriate, 22 Benjamín Grondona, 23 Joaquín Lamas

COBRAS
1 Levy Marinho, 2 Diego Vidal, 3 Bautista Vidal, 4 Ben Donald, 5 Gabriel Paganini (capt.), 6 Diver Ceballos, 7 Adrio de Melo, 8 Donnacha Byrne, 9 Douglas Rauth, 10 Lucas Spago, 11 Ariel Rodrigues, 12 Robert Tenório, 13 Victor Silva, 14 Alain Altahona, 15 Guilherme Coghueto

Replacements: 16 Alexandre Alves, 17 João Lucas Marino, 18 Henrique Ferreira, 19 Gabriel Oliveira, 20 Cléber Dias, 21 Facundo Villalba, 22 Lucas Tranquez, 23 Augusto Fonseca

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Gonzalo de Achaval (AR)
Assistant Referees: Mauro Rossi (AR); Juan Maio (AR)
TMO: Maximiliano Miranda (AR)