Argentina completa a 52-17 win over Uruguay on Saturday. It was by eight tries to two but was a scrappy victory over a dogged opponent. The scorers were 12-7 at half-time but it was very nearly 7-7; Argentina scored with the first half clock in the red to go ahead at the midway point of the match.
It looked very different early on. Argentina charged out to a 7-0 lead in the second minute. Gianluca Gnecchi awarded Los Pumas with a penalty try and yellow carded Lucas Bianchi. With Argentina having won the 2024 fixture by a record scoreline, the match quickly had an ominous look for Los Teros.
Uruguay conceder no points with Bianchi off. Instead, Bianchi returned to go within a meter of scoring for his country. Quick ball saw Felipe Alaga scoring from a pick-and-go. Scrum half Santiago Álvarez converted to lock the scores at 7-7 after 16 minutes.
Argentina responded with Benjamín Elizalde breaking clear and providing a try assist for Nicolás Roger. However, Joaquín Moro was ruled to have been offside by TMO Mike Adamson.
Elizalde was in the thick of the action for non-scorers. in Fact, there were three other non-tries by Los Pumas in the first half. Elizade and Justo Piccardo made breaks only for the support runners to knock-on. There was no reason, at this level, for them not to have all been scored. Debutant Santiago Pernas was guilty of two fumbles and veteran Matías Moroni of one.
On the one hand, Pernas paid the ultimate price by being substituted off at halftime. On the other hand, Moroni made amends. With time up in the first half, Moroni burst through to run in from 45 meters. Nicolás Roger missed the conversion.
Argentina’s poor first-half execution was not replicated in the second. Nonetheless, Los Teros opened the second-half scoring. Santiago Álvarez made it 12-10 to Los Pumas with a penalty.
Julián Montoya got Argentina moving in response. The Pumas hooker and captain powered over to score under the posts. Roger converted and then had his hands involved in an assist. Following a scrum, Roger put in a well-directed cut-out pass to Moroni who attracted two defenders before off-loading to Santiago Cordero.
A disallowed try followed. Cordero made a break from deep inside Argentine territory. He set-up Rodrigo Isgró only for TMO Mike Adamson to rule foul play. What followed was a 20 minute red card for Pedro Rubiolo for head contact during a clean-out. The player was stunned by the decision as were the three Pumas commentating the match for ESPN.
Los Teros were awarded a penalty from which they attacked. A set-move saw Felipe Etcheverry throwing a long ball out wide to Ignacio Álvarez. The wonderful try was converted by Santiago Álvarez to make out a 24-17 scoreline after 55 minutes.
Los Pumas hit-back with tries to Justo Piccardo and Rodrigo Isgró. Quick play, following a drive from Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, saw Piccardo burst into space to score near the posts. Isgró finished off a fancy move in the right corner. Nicolás Roger converted both to seal the win with the match now being early in the final quarter.
The Argentines finished well. Rookies Agustín Moyano and Nicolás Roger both scored to take Los Pumas past 50 points. Moyano darted over for a scrum-halves try while Roger provided support to Cordero who made a sneaky break deep in Uruguay’s 22.
The full-time whistle sees the two teams turning their attention to important upcoming events. Uruguay face Paraguay in a Rugby World Cup Qualifier in Asunción next Saturday. Argentina officially begin the offseason a month out from facing New Zealand in two home matches in rounds oner and two of the 2025 Rugby Championship in August.
- Argentina remains unbeaten against Uruguay in 43 test matches.
- Santiago Pernas, Nicolás D’Amorim and Faustino Sánchez Valarolo made their debuts for Argentina.
- Agustín Moyano, Nicolás Roger and Justo Piccardo scored their first test tries for Los Pumas.
- Santiago Cordero retired from Los Pumas after the match. He was a try scorer in his final test match.
- Argentina won in Salta for the first time since defeating South Africa in 2016.
- Despite a common language, World Rugby did not appoint a Spanish-Speaking referee.
ARGENTINA (52)
TRY – Penalty Try (2′); M Moroni (40′); J Montoya (43′); S Cordero (48′); J Piccardo (56′); R Isgró (62′); A Moyano (69′); N Roger (75′)
CON – No Kick (2′); N Roger 5 (44′, 57′, 63′, 69′, 75′)
RC – P Rubiolo (51′)
URUGUAY (17)
TRY – F Aliaga (14′); I Álvarez (52′)
CON – S Álvarez 2 (15′, 53′)
PEN – S Álvarez (41′)
YC – L Bianchi (2′)
ARGENTINA
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Benjamín Grondona, 8 Joaquín Moro, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 10 Nicolás Roger, 11 Santiago Pernas, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Benjamín Elizalde
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Nicolás D’Amorim, 21 Agustín Moyano, 22 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, 23 Santiago Cordero
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar (capt.) 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Ignacio Álvarez, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Bautista Basso, 15 Juan Gonzalez
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Francisco Suárez, 18 Ignacio Péculo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Santiago Civetta, 22 Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, 23 Ícaro Amarillo
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistants: Craig Evans (Wales), Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
