February 28, 2016
Argentina XV Beat Canada – Lead Americas Rugby Championship
Doug Coil
Argentina XV v Canada: February 28, 2016
Argentina XV thrilled the home crowd with a 54-21 victory against Canada. With the bonus point win, they now lead the Americas Rugby Championship with 16 points and one more match next week against Brazil. The United States is in second place with 14 points. They travel to play Uruguay next week. Both Uruguay and Canada are tied in the points standing with 10 points.
Argentina dominated an early scrum and Canada was penalized. From a lineout a maul ensued and captain Santiago Iglesias Valdéz scored an unconverted try. (2′)
Canada then needed to stop several forward attacks before Juan Pablo Estellés plunged over for a try in the corner. Pedro Mercerat converted and the score was 12-0 after 8 minutes.
Canada finally had its first prominent attack of their own, as wing Dan Moor countered with a try. Andrew Ferguson converted and the score was now 12-7. (10′)
Prior to Argentina’s third try by Puma Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Mercerat would slot a penalty, while Ferguson missed one.
Canada was then able to score after a lineout to Argentina when an errant pass went to Ferguson, who was off to the races for a try under the posts. He converted his own try.
Canada had another opportunity to attack from a scrum deep in Argentina territory. Despite Canada’s pack back peddling, Ferguson broke for another try, which he also converted. Canada had its only lead of the match, 21-20.
The restart provided Argentina with one last opportunity to score prior to halftime. Franco Quaranta was able to touch down and Mercerat converted to lead 27-21 at halftime.
Argentina began the second half as it ended the first half. A Mercerat penalty kick increased the lead and then a penalty try was awarded for repeated scrum infringements. Hubert Buyden, Canada’s captain was yellow carded.
With Canada a man down, Argentina was able to exploit the situation as Lucas González Amorosino scored in the corner. (60′)
The next fifteen minutes saw back and forth action with many errors from both sides. With five minutes remaining, Juan Manuel Leguizamón scored his second try. From the restart, Juan Pablo Estelles ran half the length of the pitch to notch his second try.
The final score was Argentina XV 54-21 Canada.
Next week’s fifth and final round will see Argentina playing Brazil and Canada playing Chile. The other match will feature Uruguay and the United States.
Referee: Joaquín Montes (Uruguay). Assistants: Mauro Rivera and Andrés Sutton (both Argentina)
Argentina XV: 7T Santiago Iglesias Valdez, Juan Pablo Estelles (2), Juan Manuel Leguizamón (2), Franco Cuaranta, Lucas González Amorosino; 1 Penalty Try; 4C2P Pedro Mercerat
Canada: 1T Dan Moor; 2T3C Andrew Ferguson
Argentina XV: 1 Facundo Gigena (17 Roberto Tejerizo) 2 Santiago Iglesias Valdez (cap)(16 Axel Zapata) 3 Enrique Pieretto (18 Eduardo Bello) 4 Pedro Ortega 5 Ignacio Larrague (19 Marcos Kremer) 6 Juan Manuel Leguizamón 7 Lautaro Bavaro 8 Santiago Portillo (20 José Deheza) 9 Marcos Bollini (21 Lautaro Bazán) 10 Juan Cruz González (22 Juan Novillo) 11 Franco Cuaranta (23 Lucas González Amorosino) 12 Tomás Granella 13 Juan Cappiello 14 Juan Pablo Estellés; 15 Pedro Mercerat.
Canada: 1 Hubert Buydens (cap)(sin-bin) 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Eric Howard) 3 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Ryan Kotlewski) 4 Kyle Baillie 5 Cam Pearce 6 Lucas Rumball (18 Rob Brouwer, temp) 7 Alistair Clark 8 Clay Panga (20 Mike Hamson) 9 Andrew Ferguson (23 Jake Robinson) 10 Pat Parfrey 11 Duncan Maguire (21 Brett Johnson) 12 Nick Blevins 13 Phil Mackenzie 14 Dan Moor 15 Brock Staller (21 Brett Johnson, temp)(22 Gradyn Bowd). Res: 19 Alex Mascott
