Argentina added another scalp to their impressive list, beating Italy 50-18 on Saturday evening. Since July The Pumas have beaten France, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Those last three were in The Rugby Championship where they did that specific treble for the first time in their history.
Argentina inflicted some amount of damage on their hosts in the end. It was still up for grabs for the Italians early in that second half but the Argentine class came through in the end and it is safe to say they ran riot in Udine. Argentina's performance tonight sees a continuation in the rise of Los Pumas whose recent form has been catching the attention of the rugby world.
Argentina piled the pressure from the first kick-off, and Tomas Albornoz converted a penalty after just two minutes of play.
Seven minutes Argentina's fullback Juan Cruz Mallia pickpockets the Italians puts the afterburners on down the left, side-steps a defender and scores the first try of the match to extend Argentina's lead to 10-00.
After eighteen minutes of play, a crossfield kick from Thomas Albornoz is knocked backwards towards their tryline, and Argentinas scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou is on hand to dot down.
Four minutes later, Italy was awarded a penalty try for the collapsing of a rolling maul off a lineout drive. Argentina’s flanker, Juan Martin Gonzalez was yellow-carded for the maul indiscretion.
Just before halftime, Italy was "robbed" of a try, however, scrumhalf Martin Page-Relo converted the resulting penalty to cut Argentina's lead to 17-10, which was also the halftime score.
Italy started the second half like they ended the first half, applying pressure, and forcing a penalty which Tomasso Allan converted to cut the visitor's lead to 17-13.
Argentina clawed their way upfield, and the giant prop Joel Sclavi burrowed over for Argentina’s third try of the night, off a lineout-maul to extend their lead to 24-13 and thirty minutes still to play.
Following an injury to Italy's flyhalf Paolo Garbisi, Italy were awarded a penalty and attacked with intent. Unfortunately, eventually, they spilt the ball and from the turnover the Argentinians counter-attacked and Tomas Albornoz eventually scored Argentina's fourth try to extend their lead to 31-14 and twenty minutes left to play in the second half.
Five minutes later Santiago Cordero scored Argentina's fifth try before Italy's prop Giacomo Nicotero bulldozed his way over the tryline to cut Argentina's lead to 36-18.
With seven minutes to play lock Matias Alemmano bursts through the line-out and adds yet another try for the visitors, extending their lead to 43-18.
Argentina is running riot now the match degraded into a training session for Contepomi’s men. It’s finished off by Bautista Delguy who scored their seventh try to confirm their dominance with a comprehensive 50-18 win over Italy.
Scorers:
Italy: Tries: Penalty try, Giacomo Nicotero. Penalties: Martin Page-relo. Tomasso Allan.
Argentina: Tries: Juan Cruz Mallia, Gonzalo Bertranou, Joel Sclavi, Tomas Albernoz, Santiago Cordero ,Matias Alemmano, Bautista Delguy. Conversions: Tomas Albornoz (5), Gonzalo Bertranou. Penalties: Tomas Albornoz.
Teams
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-relo, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Mirco Spagnolo. Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Marco Zanon.
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Bautista Delguy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Santiago Grondona, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Thomas Gallo. Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Matias Alemmano, 20 Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Matias Moroni, 23 Santiago Cordero.
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