Argentina do the double over Junior Springboks

07/14/2024 11:44 AM

WRAP: Los Pumitas added more misery to the Junior Springboks' campaign after their 34-24 win over the host nation in the fifth and sixth place play-off at the Cape Town Stadium in the World Rugby U20 tournament on Sunday.

Argentina opened the scoring in the fifth minute as flyhalf Santino Di Lucca kicked a successful penalty.

Flyhalf Tyloor Sefoor levelled matters in the 17th minute with penalty of his own.

Argentina then responded with a try in the 19th minute by hooker Juan Greising Revol after a counter attacking run by Du Lucca and a kick to the corner - with South Africa losing the lineout that lead to the hooker's score.

Captain Efrain Elias extended Argentina's lead with another try - after South Africa conceded a penalty for playing the man in the air on Argentina's 5-metre line to give Argentina better field position.

They went on the attack and had another penalty advantage but it wasn't needed as Elias picked the ball up from the base of the ruck and went over to score the try.

South Africa struck back when Argentina had possession stripped in the tackle and Sefoor stepping and selling the dummy before offloading to centre Jurenzo Julius who dotted down in the 26th minute for his first of two tries of the afternoon.

The hosts had another opportunity to strike back but knocked the ball on short of the try line.

Argentina went on the counter attack and went coast to coast, leaving the Junior Springboks' defence in shambles and slipping tackles which lead to wing Gregorio Perez Pardo's try to take a 24-10 lead into half-time.

South Africa struck first in the second stanza after Argentina conceded back to back penalties which lead to a 5-metre attacking lineout to the hosts that resulted in a try to flank Sibabalwe Mahashe in the 44th minute.

It went back and forth for the next 20 minutes before Timoteo Silva went over for another try for Argentina in the 65th minute after another great counter-attacking play by the South Americans.

Fullback Benjamin Elizalde added a penalty in the 73rd minute and Silva looked to have scored a brace two minutes later but was denied due to a forward pass.

Julius dotted down in the 76th minute after breaking a tackle and beating four defenders for a magnificent solo effort try to get his side within 10 points.

Argentina had an opportunity to strike back immediately after reclaiming the restart and got a penalty to which they kicked to the corner for the lineout but was penalised for obstruction.

South Africa went quickly with the tap and go and Julius made another break and had support on his inside but failed to get the pass away.

The ball was played back but then knocked on as the final whistle blew that saw Argentina beating the hosts for the second time in 10 days.

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Italy see off Spain

Spain had a horrid start with a yellow card to flank Jokin Zolezzi in the seventh minute with Italy lock Giacomo Milano dotting down for the try in the eighth minute.

Spain finally struck back with a try through centre Alberto Carmona in the 32nd minute.

Italy hit back with a try in the 44th minute through centre Marco Scalabrin.

Spain conceded a penalty try and a yellow card due to cynical play in the 48th minute as prop Aniol Franch had to sit out 10 minutes for his indiscretion.

Spain however didn't lie down and dotted down whilst playing with 14 players when prop Hugo Gonzales went over in the 50th minute and flyhalf Gonzalo Otamendi slotting a penalty kick to get Spain back within four points.

Scrumhalf Simone sealed the deal with penalties in the 66th, 74th and 80th minutes respectively to see Italy book their place in the ninth place Final.

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Scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries: Mahashe, Julius 2
Pen: Sefoor
Cons: Van Niekerk, Sefoor 2

For Argentina:
Tries: Silva, Perez, Pardo, Elias , Revol
Cons: Elizalde, Di Lucca 3
Pens: Di Lucca, Elizalde

Teams:

South Africa: 15 Michail Damon, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Phillip-Albert van Niekerk, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Tyloor Sefoor, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Tiaan Jacobs, 7 JF van Heerden, 6 Sibabalwe Mahashe, 5 Jaco Grobbelaar, 4 Thomas Dyer, 3 Zachary Porthen (captain), 2 Ethan Bester, 1 Ruan Swart
Replacements: 16 Juan Smal, 17 Liyema Ntshanga, 18 Casper Badenhorst, 19 Bathobele Hlekani, 20 Divan Fuller, 21 Hassiem Pead, 22 Bruce Sherwood, 23 Ezekiel Ngobeni.

Argentina: 15 Benjamin Elizalde, 14 Timoteo Silva, 13 Tomas Bocco, 12 Felipe Ledesma, 11 Gregorio Perez Pardo, 10 Santino Di Lucca, 9 Jeronimo Llorens, 8 Juan Bernasconi, 7 Santons Fernandez de Oliveira, 6 Juan Penoucos, 5 Alvaro Garcia Iandolino, 4 Efrain Elias, 3 Gael Galvan, 2 Juan Greising Revol, 1 Diego Correa
Replacements: Juan Vivas, 17 Joaquin Yakiche, 18 Marcos Camerlinckx, 19 Felipe Bruno, 20 Julian Rossi, 21 Agustin Sareli, 22 Tomas Di Biase, 23 Tomas Medina.

Scorers:

For Italy:
Tries: Milano, Scalabrin, Penalty try does not require conversion
Con: Brisighella
Pens: Brisighella 3

For Spain:
Tries: Gonzalez, Carmona
Con: Otamendi
Pen: Otamendi

Yellow cards: Zolezzi, Franch

Teams:

Italy: 15 Vittorio Padoan, 14 Mikro Belloni, 13 Marco Scalabrin, 12 Federico Zanandrea, 11 Nicola Bozzo, 10 Francesco Imberti, 9 Simone Brisighella, 8 Lorenzo Casilo, 7 Jacopo Botturi (captain), 6 Nelson Casartelli, 5 Giacomo Milano, 4 Piero Gritti, 3 Samuele Mirenzi, 2 Davide Ascari, 1 Valerio Siciliano
Replacements: 16 Francesco Gentile, 17 Federico Pisani, 18 Nicola Bologini, 19 Mattia Midena, 20 Cesare Zucconi, 21 Mattia Jimenez, 22 Martino Pucciariello, 23 Patrick de Villiers.

Spain: 15 Luciano Richardis, 14 Julien Burgullios, 13 Alberto Carmona, 12 Yago Fernandez Vilar, 11 Hugo Pichardie, 10 Gonzalo Otamendi, 9 Javier Lopez de Haro, 8 Valentino Rizzo, 7 Jokin Zolezzi, 6 Nicolas Moleti, 5 Manex Ariceta Maestro (captain), 4 Pablo Guiaro, 3 Aniol Franch, 2 Diego Gonzalez Blanco, 1 Hugo Gonzalez
Replacements: 16 David Gallego, 17 Alberto Gomez, 18 Adam Lliares, 19 Antonio Gamez, 20 Nicolas Gali, 21 Unax Zuriarrain, 22 Gabriel Rocaries, 23 Martin Serrano.