Fuelled by three Juan Fernandez Miranda drop-goals the Argentina Pumas defeated Canada 20-6 to capture their fourth Pan American Rugby championship at Fletcher's Fields in Markham, Ontario in front of 2,400 fans on Saturday.
It was a predicatably physical affair that saw a total of two sinbins and a red card on Canada and a yellow card on Argentina's flanker Rimas Alvarez, who in the fifth minute was called for punching. Canada could do nothing with the advantage, and the Pumas mounted wave after wave of attack. Canada were well organised in defense and brought each attack to a halt.
Argentina opened the scoring at the nine minute mark when Miranda struck a well placed left footed drop goal 40 metres for the 3-0 lead.
Argentina added to that with a Felipe Contepomi penalty goal and the 6-0 advantage.
It was a clever up and under, inside the Canadian 22 that had prop Rod Snow leaving earth to go after the high ball. Fullback Bernardo Mario Stortoni jumped a little higher, and gathered in the ball, dishing it right where a maul quickly formed, and then second row Leonardo Roldan rolled right, and in the grasp of Canadian scrum-half Ed Fairhurst, touched down for the unconverted try -- Argentina 11-0.
Scott Stewart finally got Canada on the board in the 28th minute with a penalty kick from 23 metres.
A moment later Canadian wing Fred Asselin was called for throwing a punch, leaving Canada shorthanded for ten minutes.
The South Americans began to play in the Canadian end, winning a penalty at the five metre line, but following two Puma scrums the Canucks were awarded a penalty for Argentina not coming into the scrum straight. Scott Stewart kicked a long ball down the park to relieve the pressure.
The Pumas almost got an interception try following a Canadian break at their own 22, but USA referee Al Klemp called it back for an offside infringement and Canada had dodged another bullet.
Canadian team coach David Clark was not upset at the number of send-offs, saying, "we wanted to be quite forceful out there. That's what we needed against a team like Argentina.
"We kept them to one try which was another very good defensive effort. The field-goals they scored were a bit of a kick in the backside -- they always are."
Argentina's first shot at goal in the second half came from an obstruction call in a lineout. Contepomi got some leg on the attempt, but it was short and the Canadians restarted from a 22 dropout. The Pumas counter attacked, Ed Fairhurst misplayed the ball and Argentina had an attacking position from the 8 metre line. A knock-on by Fernandez gave Canada a scrum and the relief they needed.
In the 48th minute Miranda used the wind to adavantage slotting his second drop goal of the game, and the Pumas led 14-3.
Coach for Argentina Marcelo Loffreda admitted the Canadian defense was well settled and that the best route would be through the air.
"We had to figure out other ways to score points, and our number ten had a good afternoon with the drop-goals," said Loffreda.
"I think that Canada is a very good team. I think that it was very difficult for us to break the (Canadian) defense and in some parts of the game Canada also broke our defense."
A moment later Klemp awarded Canada a penalty after talking from the Pumas caused a reversed call. Stewart had a shot from left of the posts 22 metres out, and made no mistake about it cutting the South American's lead to 14-6.
In the 57th minute Canada received their second sinbin of the day when hooker Pat Dunkley was shown the gate for 10 minutes, causing Dale Burleigh to come on as a front row substitute and Fred Asselin coming off for the second time that day to even the numbers.
Despite the shortage of manpower Canada managed to shift the flow of the game when Puma fullback Stortoni gathered in a Scott Stewart clearing kick at the Canadian 35 metre line and met the one man welcoming committee of Al Charron, who cleared the back off his feet in a thunderous tackle that momentarily winded the Argentinean.
The tackle by Charron seemed to embolden the rest of the team, and despite being shorthanded they controlled the ball and tackled well, rattling the Pumas.
Coach Clark said that kind of thing is why Charron is so important in galvanizing his young team.
"I think it's marvelous -- it rubs off on the other players. That just gives you the desire to do something to match him and catch up with him," said Clark.
Al Charron said that while he regrets the number of yellows and the red, he doesn't think the Canadian aggressiveness neccessarily left the team in peril.
"I don't think we got ourselves into real trouble when we were short a man," said the big flanker -- in for his record setting 63rd appearance for Canada.
He said that there was no rhythm in the Canadian pattern in the first half, and that is something they, as a team will have to sort out in short order. "We can't wait until the second half to try and find that rhythm. The first half is where we need to have a bit more rhythm."
In the 68th minute Canada guessed wrong about a ball being out of a lineout giving Contepomi his second penalty goal of the day from 22 metres, giving the Pumas an 11 point edge 17-6.
Canada finally tired of yellow cards, with number 8 Ryan Banks getting a red in the 74th minute for an errant elbow on Pumas scrumhalf Augustin Pichot, and it appeared the cause was lost. A moment later Miranda got his third drop goal of the afternoon from 25 metres and Argentina led 20-6.
Miranda, who matched Pumas legend Hugo Porta for most drop goals in a match said "kicking drops is one of the things I like most. On every opportunity I saw that the forwards were on the floor, I didn't have many options and I tried and they went."
Pumas scrum-half Augustin Pichot commended Miranda for the job he did on the afternoon. "It was a better opportunity, it was what we were looking for. I think it was a tough game and we had to kick sometimes, play sometimes."
The game stepped up physically another notch, and the Pumas trainers were spending more time on the field then some of the Canadian players.
Clark feels it was a successful tournament for his team, noting "we sorted a couple of things out -- though we still haven't got it right. We've got to get a settled back line -- it was lot better today. We got the breaks, got the ball to the edges of field but we're just short one or two players."
Canada showed a late flourish, with just 14 men, recycling the ball after an excellent John Cannon run, bolstered by large charges up the field from Rod Snow and his front row partner Jon Thiel. They finally ran out of space and steam and Klemp blew the whistle to close the 2001 Pan American championships.
Argentina finish the tournament a perfect 3-0, with Canada runners-up at 2-1. Earlier in the day the USA got their first win of the tournament 31-28 over Uruguay to take third place, just edging the Teros who had three bonus points from losing games by 7 points or less each game.
Canada now prepare for a two test tour from England, beginning in Toronto next Saturday. They will be without the services of Ryan Banks, who just after the conclusion of the match attended a hearing with match commissioner Bob Latham of the USA who handed the flanker a one week suspension for throwing an elbow during the match.
Yellow Cards: Fred Asselin (Canada), Pat Dunkley (Canada), Rimas Alvarez (Argentina)
Red Card: Ryan Banks (Argentina)
Attendance: 2,400
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Leopoldo De Chazal, 2 Juan Jose Villar, 3 Santiago Gonzalez Bonorino, 4 Leonardo Roldan, 5 Mariano Sambucetti, 6 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 7 Rolando Martin, 8 Hugo Dande, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Juan Fernandez Miranda, 11 Octavio Bartolucci, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Bernardo Stortoni
Reserves: Agustin Canalda, Martin Durand, Gustavo Morlaes Oliver
Canada: 1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Ed Knaggs, 5 John Tait, 6 Alan Charron, 7 Gregor Dixon, 8 Ryan Banks, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 10 Scott Stewart, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 John Cannon, 13 Mark Irvine, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Jeff Williams
Referee: Al Klemp (USA)
Touch Judges: David Steele (Canada), Bernardo Blengio (Uruguay)
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Tries: Roldan L. 1
Pen K.: Contepomi F. 2
Drop G.: Fernandez Miranda J. 3
Canada
Pen K.: Stewart D.S. 2
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