Argentina beat Italy in Genoa

Another win for the Pumas

Argentina beat Italy 39-22 in Genoa on Saturday afternoon, a pleasant match on a sunny day that had a sad ending with players in unseemly scuffles.

It has been a successful November for the Pumas.  They ran South Africa close in Buenos Aires and have followed that up with successive victories over Six Nations sides, beating Scotland in Murrayfield and now Italy at Estadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa with the Mayor of Genoa Giuseppe Perìcu to watch.

The Italian pack creaked a buit in the scrum but had the better of the line-outs and post-tackle turn-overs.  In fact they were happy from the start to maul at the mauling Argentinians.

The Azzurri were certainly competitive till two quick tries turned the match the Pumas' way as the last quarter of the match approached.

Puma centre Gonzalo Tiesi opened the scoring when he burst powerfully through the Italian defence but Ramiro Pez reduced the deficit to 5-3 with a penalty goal.

Two penalties by Felipe Contepomi and another by Pez made the score 11-6.  Just after that Italy took the lead when centre Gonzalo Canale scored a try which Pez converted.  It was a brillaint try as Pez got his arms above the tackle and popped a short pass to Canale who burst clean through for a try under the posts.  13-11 to Italy.

The lead did not last long as Contepomi goaled a third penalty to make the score 14-13, which also did not last long as Pez then made the score 16-14.  Two minutes later Italy failed to control an innocuous looking up-and-under and quick passes sent left-wing Francisco Leonelli over in the corner.  That made the half-time score 19-16 to the Pumas.

A penalty by Contepomi and two penalties by Pez brought the score to 22-all with 27 minutes to play.  But then the Pumas raced ahead.

First fullback Bernardo Stortoni scored from a scrum, the simplest of tries it seemed.  Two passes and he burst past CDanale and then Sergio Parisse on a run to the line of some 50 metres as the defence evaporated.  Contpomi converted.

Soon afterwards Tiesi, big and shaven-headed, burst past four defenders and gave to Martin Aramburu who powered past another two for a try at the posts, again converted by Contepomi.  In a matter of five minutes the Pumas had scored 14 points.  Finally Contepomi added a penalty goal.

Italy strove manfully to score and ended the match on the Pumas' line.  But this period was marred by two scuffles.  At the end of the first Argentina were penalised and after the second Italy.  That second penalty was kicked out and the final whistle went, but the sight of grown men pulling hair was at the very least unseemly.

Man of the match:  Big, strong Gonzalo Tiesi who scored the first try and made the last try clincher.

Moment of the Match:  For its majestic simplicity Bernardo Stortoni's try.

Villain of the Match:  Therre were several but the one who caught the eye was Rodrigo Roncero who danced away from confrontation but managed to pull hair.  It looked neither mature nor manly.

Scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Tiesi, Leonelli, Stortoni, Aramburu
Cons:  Contepomi 2
Pens:  Contepomi 5

For Italy:
Try:  Canale
Con:  Pez
Pens:  Pez 5

The teams:

Italy:  15 Ezio Galon, 14 Mirco Bergamasco, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Cristian Stoica, 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Aaron Persico, 6 Sergio Parisse, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Carlo Del Fava, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Mauro Bergamasco, 20 Alessandro Zanni, 21 Pablo Canavosio, 22 Luciano Orquera.

Argentina:  15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Federico Martín Aramburu, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Francisco Leonelli, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Juan Martin Fernández Lobbe, 7 Santiago Sanz, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Pablo Bouza, 4 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, 3 Omar Hasan, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero
Replacements:  16 Eusebio Guiñazu, 17 Martín Scelzo, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 20 Nicolás Fernández Miranda, 21 Federico Todeschini, 22 Lucas Borges

Referee:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), James Jones (Wales)
Television match official:  Eric Darrière (France)