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Argentina weathered a worrying first 30 minutes against their arch-rivals Uruguay to win their ARC Round 2 match 21-10 Tuesday night at Westhills Stadium in Langford, BC.
This was expected to be a hugely physical Americans Rugby Championship clash, with Uruguay hoping to bash the Jaguars - Argentina's second team - into submission.
But the Jaguars, led by massive prop Ramiro Herrera and superb No. 8 Lisandro Ahualli could dish it out, too.
Argentina got into penalty trouble in the rucks early and fell behind 3-0. The Jaguars had an early opportunity to equalize, but opted for the kick to the corner and the lineout and maul. Uruguay stole the ball in the maul and kept their slim lead.
But it was only a matter of time. At 24 minutes Argentina equalized, and then near the end of the first half flanker and captain Benjamin Macome made a break, dummied away his defender, and then fed wing Matias Massera for a try.
Despite having the ascendency in the scrums, Argentina were plagued by horrible lineouts that undercut their attacking efforts and kept Uruguay in the game. 11-3 at halftime.
More of the same for Uruguay in the second half - defend, defend, defend. Los Teros had one good scoring chance, but the backs let them down, but at the same time, while Argentina did score a penalty and a converted try, they had to work awfully hard to make their chances count.
The try was a pretty one, with wing Facundo Barrea seeing a seam open up in the middle of Uruguay's chase defense, zipped through and cut right to score under the posts.
But Uruguay battled on. Both teams were completely disgraceful in their ball-killing and ruck tactics, and referee Bryan Arciero was hard-pressed to police it. The two teams seemed content to police it themselves.
Uruguay did finally get a try. A break from lock Mathias Palomeque set up a penalty from which Los Teros took the lineout and maul. Sub front-rower Oscar Duran got the second-biggest cheer of the day when he dove over.
The biggest cheer came when evergreen fullback Jeronimo Etcheverry intercepted an Argentina pass and almost went the distance.
Argentina survived that, and Uruguay survived a potential score on the other end to finish the game. 21-10 Argentina, with Uruguay doing very well to deny the Jaguars a bonus point for four tries.
Uruguay flyhalf Rodrigo Silva was excellent, and if the USA hopes to beat Los Teros they will have to make their clearouts count in the rucks.
Argentina 21
Tries: Massera, Barrea
Convs: Cruz
Pens: Cruz 3
Uruguay 10
Tries: Duran
Convs: Silva
Pens: Silva
ARGENTINA ROSTER
1. IGNACIO SAENZ LANCUBA
2. MARTIN GARCIA VEIGA
3. RAMIRO HERRERA
4. MATIAS ALEMANO
5. CESAR FRUTTERO
6. ALEJANDRO CAMPOS
7. BENJAMIN MACOME (C)
8. LISANDRO AHUALLI
9. MARCOS BOLLINI
10. VALENTIN CRUZ
11. MATIAS MASSERA
12. JAVIER ROJAS
13. MATIAS ORLANDO
14. FACUNDO BARREA
15. RAMIRO MOYANO
16. BRUNO POSTIGLIONI
17. JUAN GOMEZ
18. RODRIGO BRUNO
19. TOMAS DE LA VEGA
20. TOMAS CUBELLI
21. SANTIAGO GONZALEZ IGLESIAS
22. ROMAN MIRALLES
URUGUAY ROSTER
1. RODOLFO DE MULA
2. ARTURO AVALO (C)
3. JUAN ROMBYS
4. MATEO SANGUINETTI
5. MATHIAS PALOMEQUE
6. AGUSTIN ALONSO
7. SEBASTIAN SAGARIO
8. DIEGO MAGNO
9. FRANCISCO VECINO
10. RODRIGO SILVA
11. FEDERICO FAVARO
12. RODRIGO MARTINEZ
13. SANTIAGO GIBERNAU
14. PABLO BUENO
15. JERONIMO ETCHEVERRY
16. ALEJO CORRAL
17. OSCAR DURAN
18. FRANCISCO JIMENEZ
19. FRANCO LAMANNA
20. GUILLERMO LIJTENSTEIN
21. JUAN DE FREITAS
22. GASTON MIERES
23. ALEJO DURAN
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Bryan Arciero (Canada)
Assistant Referee: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Assistant Referee: Karen Lozada (Canada)
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