Pampas battle past fired-up Raptors at CASI

The first professional rugby match in Buenos Aires since 2019 saw Los Pampas facing the American Raptors on Friday. In front of a packed crowd at La Catedral, Los Pampas rebounded from their loss against Selknam to battle past the fired-up Raptors and win 27-16 at the Club Atlético de San Isidro (CASI) in Buenos Aires.

The teams started and ended the opening half on equal terms. The 13-13 half-time scoreline was an accurate reflection of the rugby played. Both teams scored a try each, the first coming very early. Matías Esteban awarded a penalty try just three minutes in.

The 7-0 start was perfect for the American Raptors. In addition to leading they had an advantage with Nicolás D’Amorim yellow carded for infringing at the advancing maul.

The early sting was overcome as Los Pampas got themselves into good field position. No points came though in the 7th minute attack. The next points would instead come from the boot of Lucas González Amorosino. His first penalty made it 10-0 after 15 minutes.

The opening quarter concluded with Los Pampas scoring their first points. In a change of kickers from the rounds one and two, Joaquín de la Vega Mendía took over and was on target to make it 10-3.

González Amorosino responded to restore a ten point lead for the Colorado team. Yet, it was not the scoresheet that concerned Los Pampas. They were playing well but letting themselves down at the lineout. Multiple attacks ended due to the team unable to secure their own lineups when hot on attack.

While the lineup was a shortcoming the scrum was not. Los Pampas attacked from a scrum in the Raptors’ 22. de la Vega Mendía attacked the line and off-loaded to Benjamín Elizalde who scored a beautiful try beside the posts.

Infringements took their tool on the Raptors. Mikey Grandy and Tommy Clark were yellow carded either side of half-time. Meanwhile, de la Vega Mendía landed a penalty to make it 13-13 and González Amorosino responded for the Raptors after the resumption.

The home side had an attacking scrum and looked like scoring. Following phases Eliseo Morales ran while attracting defenders and passing to Benjamín Elizalde. The winger overran the pass which saw the Raptors let off the hook very lightly.

Elizalde made up for the blunder by setting-up a score. With a break down the right, the winger passed infield to Rafael Iriate who found an unmarked de la Vega Mendía. The former Rugby ATL playmaker touched down in the try zone to give the home side their first lead of the match in the 59th minute.

The troubled lineout got it together for the next try. Scored just six minutes later, it sealed the result. A lineout to maul drive saw Ramiro Gurovich scoring in the 65th minute. Los Pampas were had the win and the four competition points.

Los Pampas have a bye next weekend. They then have four matches with limited travel before making the trip to Colorado to face the Raptors again on April 16. The Raptors travel to Asunción to face Yacare next Sunday. It is the final stop in their four week tour of South America to open their Super Rugby Americas 2023 season.

 

SCORING

PAMPAS (27)
Try – B Elizalde (30′); J de la Vega Mendía (59′); R Gurovich (65′)
Con – J de la Vega Mendía 3/3 (30′, 60′, 67′)
Pen – J de la Vega Mendía 2/2 (20′, 39′)
YC – N D’Amorim (3′)

 

AMERICAN RAPTORS (16)
Try – Penalty Try (3′)
Con – No Kick (3′)
Pen – L González Amorosino 3/3 (15′, 23′, 45′)
YC – M Grandy (37′); T Clark (48′)

 

TEAMS

PAMPAS
1 Miguel Prince, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Lorenzo Colidio, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Nicolás D’Amorim, 7 Jerónimo Ureta, 8 Santiago Ruiz (capt.), 9 Eliseo Morales, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Tomás Passaro, 12 Manuel Alfaro, 13 Felipe de la Vega, 14 Benjamín Elizalde, 15 Juan Ignacio Landó

Replacements: 16 Valentino Minoyetti, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Martín Villar, 19 Federico Lavanini, 20 Manuel Bernstein, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Tomás Suárez Folch, 23 Santiago Castro

 

AMERICAN RAPTORS
1 Payton Telea-Ilalio, 2 Diego Fortuny, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Mikey Grandy (capt.), 5 Diego Magno, 6 Shawn Clark, 7 Ronan Murphy, 8 Siaki Vikilani, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Lucas González Amorosino, 11 Seimou Smith, 12 Aki Pulu, 13 Dominick Iacovino, 14 Ryan James, 15 Line Latu

Replacements: 16 Franco Palillo, 17 Sebastián Otero, 18 Ma’ake Muti, 19 Will Crawford, 20 Tommy Clark, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 Watson Filitonga, 23 Patrick Madden

 

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Matías Esteban (UY)
Assistant Referees: Juan Maio (AR); Nicolás Cotic (AR)
TMO: Martín González Deibe (AR)