Argentina beat Romania 50-3 at Aussie Stadium, in Sydney. Playing with what was almost a second team, the Pumas were simply too strong for the Romanians in an unrhythmic match.
The Pumas have their forwards to thank for the victory. They dominated, despite Mario Ledesma's erratic throwing at the line-out. And with the exception of young centre Martín Gaitan, their backs were poor, tending to run across the field and clumsy in catching, especially anything that looked like a high ball.
The Argentinians started their forwards march slowly in the first half against the resolute Romanians, but eventually their destruction got into gear and, predictably, it started at the scrum. They scored two tries from pushover scrums, both credited to No.8 Pablo Bouza.
From the start the Romanians defended with a will. From a five-metre scrum after a penalty they drove the Argentinian invaders back further and further till Juan Fernández Miranda tried a feeble attempt at a drop, which looked almost like surrender. He tried again later in the half, also unsuccessfully.
For all their determination, the Romanians were their own worst enemies as their hands let them down time and again.
In the first half the Argentinians enjoyed over 70 percent of possession and territory. The Oaks had to give.
They gave first when Gaitan, the young inside centre, cut back at speed from just inside the Romanian half and sped clean through for a try at the posts.
It took nearly 20 minutes for their next try which had a little luck to accompany it. Juan Fernández Miranda grubbered and the ball suddenly bounced up high leaving the Romanian fullback Gabriel Brezoianu, normally a wing, waiting for the ball to arrive.
The third try of the half happened just before half-time when the Romanians looked set to exploit an overlap. Instead they dropped the ball and Manuel Contepomi picked up, wiggled, sped and scored.
The half-time score was 24-0 to the Pumas.
It took the men from South America 21 seconds to score their first try in the second half. From the kick-off the Romanians passed the ball back to Ionut Tofan, who took his time in executing a clearing kick. Scrum-half Nicolas Fernández Miranda charged down the kick, gathered the bounce and scored.
Argentina drove from a five-metre line-out but Pedro Sporleder was held up, which gave them a five-metre scrum which they shoved over.
Romanian still had some determined moments and Tofan goaled a penalty for their only score.
There were many substitutions at this time, but the Pumas bulldozed another agonising scrum over the line for Bouza to get his second try and then young Juan Martín Hernández did in like manner when he cut in from a blindside move from a scrum. Quesada's second conversion made it 50-3 with 14 minutes to play. They were 14 cumbersome minutes.
Man of the match: Martín Gaitan, who came into the Argentinian squad only because of the injury to Lisandro Arbizu. He looked, of all the backs on the field, the only one with life, energy and speed. And he ran straight.
Moment of the match: There were two special moments -- for the first try and for the last try, but really it was the sudden definition of Martín Gaitan's try that was the best Moment of the match.
Villain of the match: The Romanians were penalised 21 times. That is the most any team has been penalised in a World Cup match in 2003. But there seemed no malice, rather desperation in their actions. The truth is nobody was villainous.
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Rodrigo Roncero, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Patricio Albacete, 5 Pedro Sporleder, 6 Martin Durand, 7 Santiago Phelan (c), 8 Pablo Bouza, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Juan Fernandez Miranda, 11 Jose Nunez Piossek, 12 Manuel Contepomi, 13 Martin Gaitan, 14 Hernan Senillosa, 15 Juan Martin Hernandez
Reserves: Omar Hasan Jalil, Rolando Martin, Agustin Pichot, Gonzalo Quesada
Unused: Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, Federico Mendez, Jose Orengo
Romania: 1 Silviu Florea, 2 Razvan Mavrodin, 3 Petrisor Toderasc, 4 Sorin Socol, 5 Cristian Petre, 6 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Marian Tudori, 8 George Chiriac, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Ioan Teodorescu, 12 Romeo Gontineac (c), 13 Valentin Maftei, 14 Mihai Vioreanu, 15 Gabriel Brezoianu
Reserves: Vasile Ghioc, Iulian Andrei, Ion Paulica, Augustin Petrechei, Cezar Popescu, Cristian Sauan, Florin Tatu
Attendance: 33673
Referee: White c.
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Tries: Hernandez J.M. 2, Gaitan M. 1, Contepomi M. 1, Fernandez Miranda N. 1, Bouza P. 2
Conv: Fernandez Miranda J. 4, Quesada G. 2
Pen K.: Fernandez Miranda J. 1
Romania
Pen K.: Tofan I.R. 1
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