Argentina 38 Italy 17

Argentina scored four tries (three converted) and four penalties to Italy's one try and four penalties.

On Saturday, Argentina defeated Italy 38-17 in a one-off Test in front of 20 000 spectators at Ferreocarril Oeste soccer stadium.

The tough Italians put up more of a fight than expected in an evenly matched first half, but the Argentinians got the upper-hand in the second half after leading 13-6 at half-time.

Diego Albanese's try after 23 minutes was the only highlight of the first half.

Felipe Contepomi converted Argentina's try and slotted two penalties in the first half, compared to Francesco Mazzariol scoring Italy's only first-half points with two penalties.

Mazzariol added two early penalty goals after the break, but with the Azzurri trailing 13-12 the Argentines ran away with the score courtesy of stand-off Gonzalo Quesada, who came on just before the end of the first half as a substitute.

Quesada scored a penalty and a try, converted by himself within five minutes to make it 23-12 after 50 minutes.

Argentina's two other tries were scored by Eduardo Simone, converted by Quesada in the 54th minute, and Albanese.

Italy attacked furiously during the last 10 minutes, but could only get over the tryline once as Los Pumas mounted a sturdy defence.  Giovanni Rainieri crossed the line two minutes before the end.

The Italians lost a Test to South Africa, but beat Uruguay last week and now return home to rest.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Lucas Ostiglia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Bernardo Stortoni
Reserves:  Martin Durand, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Gonzalo Quesada
Unused:  Leopoldo De Chazal, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Mariano Sambucetti, Facundo Soler

Italy:  1 Andrea Muraro, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Salvatore Perugini, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Mark Giacheri, 6 Salvatore Garozzo, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Francesco Mazzariol, 11 Luca Martin, 12 Walter Pozzebon, 13 Giovanni Raineri, 14 Massimiliano Perziano, 15 Nicola Mazzucato
Reserves:  Luca Mastrodomenico, Fabio Ongaro, Roberto Pedrazzi, Andrea De Rossi, Tino Paoletti
Unused:  Filippo Frati, Ramiro Pez

Attendance:  20000
Referee:  Whitehouse n.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Albanese D.L. 2, Quesada G. 1, Simone E. 1
Conv:  Contepomi F. 1, Quesada G. 2
Pen K.:  Contepomi F. 2, Quesada G. 1
Drop G.:  Quesada G. 1

Italy
Tries:  Raineri G. 1
Pen K.:  Mazzariol F. 4