WORLD RUGBY U’20 CHAMPIONSHIP 2016
Argentina U20s
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POOL C: FRANCE 15-24 ARGENTINA Argentina had trailed for much of the match against France at AJ Bell Stadium, but two tries in the final eight minutes saw Los Pumitas secure the winning start that is so important in a tournament where only the pool winners are guaranteed a place in the semi-finals. Fly-half Domingo Miotti, one of nine Youth Olympic Games medallists in the two line-ups, scored the first points of the 2016 Championship with a penalty from the half-way line but it was France who claimed the match’s opening try in the 10th minute. Scrum-half Antoine Dupont had already been lively in attack before he chipped the ball through and regathered to run in the try. Anthony Belleau failed to convert, but the fly-half and Miotti traded penalties to give Les Bleuets a slender 8-6 lead at half-time.
he second half continued to ebb one way and then the other as France increased their advantage to 15-6 with a penalty try in the 52nd minute, but Argentina refused to buckle and two penalties in quick succession from Martin Elias – Miotti’s replacement – setting up a tense finale. Replacement scrum-half Lautaro Bazan Velez darted over from close range to edge Los Pumitas ahead and just three minutes later fellow replacement Bautista Stavile Bravin charged 30 metres and managed to touch down despite a desperate French tackle. The smile on his face and the celebrations at the final
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whistle told just how much the win meant to Los Pumitas. Argentina coach Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe said: “We struggled in the scrum in the first half and we perhaps got lucky at the end but we showed real determination and some excellent skill to beat France. The players are incredibly proud and happy with the win here today and we now look to South Africa, after some rest. We have played them in this competition before so we know what to expect and after beating Japan, they will also be confident.” SOUTH AFRICA V ARGENTINA Junior Springbok coach Dawie Theron has made six changes to the starting XV that eventually overcame a spritely Japan 59-19 for their second Pool C match against Argentina at the AJ Bell Stadium. With wet conditions anticipated, Theron has shuffled his pack and backline with Manie Libbok and Curwin Bosch swapping positions between fly-half and full-back and Franco Naude taking over at inside centre from JT Jackson. Up front, props Franco van den Berg and Carlü Sadie come into the starting line-up, replacing replace Kwenzo Blose and Jaco Holtzhausen, while second-row Eduard Zandberg gets the nod over Cobus Wiese for what promises to be a highly-competitive match against Argentina. SOUTH AFRICA V ARGENTINA Junior Springbok coach Dawie Theron has made six changes to the starting XV that eventually overcame a spritely Japan 59-19 for their second Pool C match against Argentina at the AJ Bell Stadium. With wet conditions anticipated, Theron has shuffled his pack and backline with Manie Libbok and Curwin Bosch swapping positions between fly-half and full-back and Franco Naude taking over at inside centre from JT Jackson.
Up front, props Franco van den Berg and Carlü Sadie come into the starting line-up, replacing replace Kwenzo Blose and Jaco Holtzhausen, while second-row Eduard Zandberg gets the nod over Cobus Wiese for what promises to be a highly-competitive match against Argentina. Historic wins for Ireland and Argentina Ireland stunned defending champions New Zealand at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2016, before Argentina also achieved a first victory over South Africa. If we wondered how day two of the World Rugby U20 Championship 2016 could live up to the upsets of the opening round we need not have worried as Ireland and Argentina recorded historic victories over defending champions New Zealand and 2012 winners South Africa respectively on Saturday. Ireland, already riding high after beating Six Nations Grand Slam winners Wales on day one, used the driving maul to great effect to stun New Zealand 33-24 at the Manchester City Academy Stadium. Argentina’s players were then crying tears of joy after closing out the day with a 19-13 win over the Junior Springboks at AJ Bell Stadium. Georgia nearly joined the cast of history-makers, but the tournament debutants had to settle for a losing bonus point after a dominant foward display saw them go down 10-9 against Wales at Manchester City Academy Stadium. The second round also saw Australia and France record their first victories of the 2016 edition, strong second-half performances seeing them overcome Italy and Japan respectively, while hosts England turned on the style to overwhelm Scotland 44-0 before a sellout Manchester City Academy Stadium. “We are expecting wet weather for this clash, so we decided to beef up our pack,” said Theron, whose
side have only met Argentina once in U20 Championship history, running out 35-3 winners in the 2012 semi-finals in Cape Town. “We also brought in Curwin Bosch at fly-half because he is the best tactical kicker in the group at this point, and in wet conditions the tactical kicking has to be good. “Ideally we would like to play the style of rugby that we played in the second half against Japan, but the wet weather could create a challenge in that regard. However, if we produce solid set pieces, and balance that with smart tactical kicking and use our skills, hopefully the results will follow.” Argentina, meanwhile, have suffered a blow with their captain Benito Paolucci ruled out of the tournament with a knee ligament injury. The highly-rated Marcos Kremer moves from second row to blindside flanker to fill that void with centre Juan Cruz Mallia taking over the captaincy. There are four other changes in the starting line-up with Lautaro Bazan Velez and Bautista Stavile Bravin finding themselves on the replacements bench again despite scoring the late tries that secured the 24-15 win over France on day one. POOL C: SOUTH AFRICA 13-19 ARGENTINA For the second match day in a row Argentina’s players greeted the final whistle with euphoria, leaping into the air in celebration and crying tears of joy after beating South Africa for the first time in U20 Championship history. Fly-half Domingo Miotti kicked 14 points as Argentina capitalised on an ill-disciplined performance from South Africa in the final game of the day at the AJ Bell Stadium in Manchester and victory over Japan on Wednesday will see Los Pumitas top Pool C and reach the semi-finals for only the second time. No quarter was asked nor given in a full-on physical encounter that was full of big hits rather than
try-scoring opportunities, and it took until the 40th minute before the whitewash was crossed legitimately. It appeared as though the sides would be locked together at 6-6 at half-time after an exchange of penalties from opposing fly-halves, Curwin Bosch and Miotti, but scrum-half James Hall’s yellow card for a tip tackle in midfield proved a game-changer. Los Pumitas had already had one try chalked off by the TMO by the time Tomas Malanos came off his wing and hit a great line in midfield to finish off a well-executed lineout move on the South African 22. Miotti brought the half to a close with the conversion. The fly-half nailed his first penalty chance of the second half from halfway to take Argentina’s lead into double figures and added another just before the hour mark, shortly after South Africa had been denied a try of their own. Winger Mosolwa Mafuma appeared to win the race to the ball in the in-goal area after a kick ahead but the TMO ruled that it hadn’t been grounded properly. South Africa mauled their way over the line in the 64th minute and loose-head prop Franco van den Berg came up with the ball, Bosch adding the conversion to make it a six-point ball game between the two unbeaten sides in Pool C. Suddenly the momentum was with South Africa but their chances of a comeback win were seriously hampered when openside flanker Ernst van Rhyn was sent to the sin-bin and Los Pumitas held on to the delight of their vocal band of supporters Argentina coach Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe: “I am really happy for the boys for the way they played, which was the way we wanted to. I am happy with the set-piece as we struggled with that against France. Passion is everything with Argentina and it was the difference for us today. Our goal is always the same, whether we win or we lose. I always tell the boys to
go out there an play with confidence and pass the ball around. For me that is rugby.” South Africa captain Jeremy Ward: “I think it just comes down to discipline. We played 20 minutes with 14 men and it really cost us today. We’re disappointed because we came here to win. But credit to Argentina, they played with passion and made it very hard for us.” POOL C: ARGENTINA V JAPAN Los Pumitas have only reached the semi-finals once before, back in 2012 when current Pumas Pablo Matera and Santiago Cordero starred for them in South Africa, but victory against Japan will see them progress as pool winners once again. The two sides have only met once before in U20 Championship history with Argentina winning a high-scoring ninth place play-off 38-31 last year, but while Los Pumitas have used their renowned passion to inspire victories over South Africa and France, the Japanese have struggled somewhat. Japan will again have six players in their starting lineup who have already played test rugby in the recent Asia Rugby Championship, among them Ataata Moeakiola who scored a hat-trick on day one against South Africa playing on the wing but will start again at fly-half. The inclusion of Keiichi Kaneko and Ryo Inoue, at hooker and blindside flanker respectively, are the only two changes for Japan and Argentina coach Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe has also largely kept faith with the side that beat South Africa for the first time on Saturday. Two of Argentina’s try-scorers against France in flanker Bautista Stavile Bravin and scrum-half Lautaro Bazan Velez have earned their first starts of the tournament among four changes to run-on XV, one of them positional.
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POOL C: ARGENTINA 39-20 JAPAN Japan clearly hadn’t read the script of an Argentina win to top Pool C as they scored twice in the opening six minutes, catching Argentina cold with test capped players Ataata Moeakiola and Tevita Tatafu getting their names on the scoresheet. The first came from a lineout and drive towards the line, Moeakiola – playing at fly-half again – cutting through a poor attempted tackle to score his fourth of the tournament. The dust had barely settled when Japan turned over ball and number Tatafu charged down the wing for number two. Argentina eventually settled and two tries from winger Jose Barros Sosa gave them the lead, 12-10, in the 24th minute, his first coming when he collected a little kick through from Domingo Miotti and the second when he finished off a move along the backline. Moeakiola and Miotti traded penalties again to make the half-time score 15-13 in Argentina’s favour and that was as close as Japan would get to a first victory of the tournament with three tries in the second half wrapping up the win Los Pumitas needed. Within three minutes highly-rated flanker Marcos Kremer went over from close range and then replacement Mariano Romanini was on the end of a pop pass inside to charge over for the bonus point try with 54 minutes on the clock. That looked like the try that had booked Argentina’s place in the semi-finals but Japan gave them food for thought with a powerful driving maul, Tatafu diving over the line for his second of the match to cut the deficit to 29-20. Argentina weren’t to be denied, though, captain Juan Cruz Mallia stepping his way through the defence after some good work from Miotti for number five,
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before replacement Martin Elias added a penalty to put the gloss on the win. Argentina captain and try scorer Mallia: “We knew that it was going to be a difficult match but we worked hard and have made the semi-finals which is a great feeling. We had clear objectives for this tournament and that was to take it step by step, match by match, and we knew we could do it. It’s a dream. Now we are going to the semis and hopefully we can go to the final. We are learning match by match so let’s see what happens.” Japan try-scorer Moeakiola: “Our defence is getting better, we need a bit more energy to improve but I think we are getting better at everything.”
EMI-FINAL: IRELAND 37-7 ARGENTINA Argentina’s passion had been the catalyst for their impressive wins over South Africa, France and Japan in the pool stages, but it was perhaps their undoing in this battle for a maiden U20 Championship final with Ireland. Los Pumitas were literally bouncing out of the lineup they were that fired up during the anthem, but they were uncharacteristically subdued throughout the match and never really recovered from Jacob Stockdale scoring the opening try in the eighth minute. A driving maul took Ireland towards the line and when the ball came back fly-half Johnny McPhillips
put up a kick to the corner, Matthew Byrne challenging well in the air and the ball eventually finding full-back Stockdale to spin over the line.
THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFF: ARGENTINA 49-19 SOUTH AFRICA Captain Juan Cruz Mallia led from the front as Argentina recorded their best ever finish in U20 Championship history. Mallia scored a hat-trick and fly-half Domingo Miotti enjoyed a virtually flawless afternoon with the boot as Los Pumitas claimed third place ahead of the shell-shocked Junior Springboks. Early tries from electric backs Manie Libbok and Edwill van der Merwe suggested that head coach Dawie Theron would be given a winning send-off after six years in charge of the Junior Springboks. When Jan-Henning Campher crossed for another, after Los Pumitas’ centre and captain Mallia had pulled five points back, South Africa led 19-7 with 22 minutes gone. But Mallia’s second from an intercepted pass sparked a remarkable run of 37 unanswered points from Los Pumitas to the delight of their vocal band of supporters. Replacement Mariano Romanini was first to cross in the second half and Miotti added the extras before landing two penalties, the second from nearly halfway. Hooker Gaspur Baldunciel and number eight Facundo Dominguez crossed from close range as Argentina put the game out of South Africa’s reach. Winger Julian Dominguez then butchered a try when he dropped the ball over the line, before Mallia scored his third in stoppage time
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ARGENTINA U20 Gaspar BALDUNCIEL, Patricio BARONIO GAUNA, Jose BARROS SOSA, Lautaro BAZAN VELEZ, Vicente BORONAT, Ignacio CALAS, Gonzalo Jose DEL PAZO, Bautista DELGUY, Julian DOMINGUEZ WIDMER, Martin ELIAS, Juan Pablo ENRIQUEZ, Marcos KREMER, Tomas MALANOS, Juan Cruz MALLIA, Santiago MARE, Santiago MEDRANO, Christian Nahuel MILAN, Hugo Domingo MIOTTI, Franco MOLINA, Matias Lucas OSADCZUK, Benito PAOLUCCI, Roman PRETZ, Santiago PULELLA, Ruben Luis RICCO, Teo CASTIGLIONI, Mariano ROMANINI, Conrado ROURA, Bautista STAVILE BRAVIN, Facundo Nahuel DOMINGUEZ
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