Friday, October 12, 2012 - Submitted by ARC Communications
In the Americas Rugby Championship tournament opener Argentina were comfortable winners downing the USA 39-3.
The two teams showed even measure in the early going, but as the pressure mounted against the USA Santiego Iglesias hit for two penalty kicks to give his a 6-0 lead after 18 minutes.
On the US side of the ball - fly-half Gearoid McDonald had two penalty chances go wide. In the 37th minute Argentina finally found the tryline after Captain Tomas Cubelli made a line break and off-loaded to centre Javier Rojas to give Argentina a 13-0. Just before the break McDonald missed his third shot at goal as the teams repaired to the dry confines of the dressing rooms for a ten minute respite.
In the 40th minute it was another bit of brilliance from the Argentine Captain as Cubelli darted up the blind side following a scrum taken against the head - and a trailing Iglesias finished the move off with flourish as he touched down and then added the extras to give his side a confidence building 20-0 half time lead.
In the second frame the Americans switched up kicking duties as wing Zach Pangelinan hit for a penalty following a dust up in the 47th minute - getting the US on the board at 20-3.
As the US continued to try and get its offense going - a well intentioned grubber by McDonald ended up going the other way as Argentine replacement fullback Moyano Ramiro went 75 metres to push his team's account to 25-3 following the conversion from Valentin Cruz.
Argentina continued to mount pressure - as Ramiro benefited from a well executed lineout - and then quick hands down the line saw him clear for the Jaguars bonus try.
Ramiro would punish the Americans again in injury time as he gathered in a quick throw from the Americans to take it home under the posts with the conversion give his side an emphatic 39-3 victory to open the tournament with 5 points in the table.
Argentina Tries: Javier Rojas, Valentin Cruz, Moyano Ramiro (3) Conversions: Santiago Iglesias (2) Valentin Cruz (2) Penalties: Santiago Iglesias (2)
USA Penalty: Zach Pangelinan
USA ROSTER 1. NICHOLAS WALLACE 2. DEREK ASBUN for 3 @ 75 mins 3. ZACHARY FENOGLIO 4. TOM KATZFEY 5. GRAHAM HARRIMAN 6. CAM DOLAN (C) 7. JOHN QUILL 8. TAYLOR MOKATE for 17 SBF @ 37 mins 9. BENNY MATEIALONA 10. GEAROID MCDONALD 11. ZACHARY PANGELINAN 12. JACK TRACY 13. DEAN GERICKE 14. CORNELIUS DIRKSEN 15. CHRIS CHAPMAN
16. STAN MOAALII for 7 @ 60 mins 17. TONY PURPURA for 8 @ SBF @ 27 mins (Sin Bin Front Row)/ for 3 @ 40 mins 18. TIM PAULSEN 19. NICHOLAS CIVETTA for 5 @ 72 mins 20. KRIS HEADLEE for 8 @ 37 mins 21. SHAUN DAVIES for 9 @ 72 mins 22. ZACHARY MIZELL for 14 @ 40 mins 23. MILES CRAIGWELL
ARGENTINA ROSTER 1. FRANCISCO PICCININI 2. BRUNO POSTIGLIONI 3. JUAN GOMEZ 4. FELIPE ARANGUREN 5. MATIAS ALEMANO 6. TOMAS DE LA VEGA 7. RODRIGO BRUNO 8. BENJAMIN MACOME 9. TOMAS CUBELLI (C) 10. SANTIAGO GONZALEZ IGLESIAS 11. MANUEL MONTERO 12. JAVIER ROJAS 13. JERONIMO DE LA FUENTE 14. FACUNDO BARREA 15. ROMAN MIRALLES
16. IGNACIO SAENZ LANCUBA for 1 @ 16 mins 17. RAMIRO HERRERA for 3 @ 51 mins 18. MARTIN GARCIA VEIGA 19. ALEJANDRO CAMPOS for 7 @ 51 mins 20. LISANDRO AHUALLI for 8 @ 51 mins 21. MARCOS BOLLINI for 9 @ 72 mins 22. VALENTIN CRUZ for 10 @ 62 mins 23. MOYANO RAMIRO for 15 @ 51 mins
MATCH OFFICIALS REFEREE: Joaquin Montes (Uruguay) ASSISTANT REFEREE: David Smortchevsky (Canada) ASSISTANT REFEREE: Andrew McMaster (Canada) MATCH OFFICIAL #4: Bryan Arciero (Canada) MATCH OFFICIAL #5: Chris Assmus (Canada) MATCH OFFICIAL #6/Scorer: Kai Taylor (Canada)
