Pampas Upset Dogos for Historic First Win

Los Pampas booked a spot in the Super Rugby Americas Semi Finals. The Buenos Aires side were convincing winners over Los Dogos in Córdoba on Friday. The bonus point win came with the added bonus of Los Dogos being denied a competition point from the contest.

The Buenos Aires side outscored Los Dogos by four tries to two. Centers Justo Piccardo and Juan Pablo Castro scored for Los Pampas as did winger Santiago Pernas and flanker Nicolás D’Amorim. Los Dogos’ tries were both in the first-half and were scored by hooker Tomás Bartolini and fullback Agustín de Vertiz.

The win was crafted on penalties and finished with tries. The Pro D2 bound Joaquín de la Vega Mendía landed five penalties. All five came in the first-half. Los Pampas were ahead 20-15 at the break despite Los Dogos having scored two tries to one.

Bartolini’s 13th minute try opened the scoring. It came from a lineout to maul move. Piccardo responded at the other end. His try down he right came after Los Dogos failed to gather a kick. Agustín Segura and Agustín de Vertiz were caught off guard. The same two combined for Los Dogos second score.

Frustration summed up the second-half for the home side. Agustin De Vertiz’ impressive first-half score from fullback would not be replicated. Instead, Juan Pablo Castro’s try gave the visitors a 12 point lead. Castro ran an angle to slip open the Córdoba defense.

The final nail in the coffin came in the 67th minute. Second-rower Lautaro Simes was yellow carded. Los Pampas swiftly made use of the advantage to send Santiago Pernas over in the right corner. It was leveled with 14 men per team with Castro yellow carded; yet, it mattered not as Nicolás D’Amorim found his way over for the bonus point score.

The result was Los Dogos first defeat against Los Pampas. Los Pampas are now top of Super Rugby Americas 2024 with 40 competition points. Los Dogos are 2nd with 36 points. Los Dogos have a bye next weekend while Los Pampas play host to Chilean side Selknam.

SCORING

DOGOS (15)
Try (2)- T Bartolini (13′), A De Vertiz (33′)
Con (1) – J Hernández (34′)
Pen (1) – J Hernández (4′)
YC (1) – L Simes (67′)

PAMPAS (37)
Try (4) – J Piccardo (17′), JP Castro (62′), S Pernas (69′), N D’Amorim (76′)
Con (1) – J de la Vega Mendía (62′)
Pen (5) – J de la Vega Mendía (9′, 16′, 27′, 31′, 38′)
YC (2) – JP Castro (73′), R Zanella (78′)

LINEUPS

DOGOS
1 Boris Wenger, 2 Tomás Bartolini, 3 Octavio Ignacio Filippa, 4 Lautaro Simes, 5 Franco Molina (capt.), 6 Aitor Bildosola, 7 Lorenzo Colidio, 8 Valentín Cabral, 9 Agustín Moyano, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Mateo Soler, 12 Leonardo Gea Salim, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Nicolas Javier Olguin, 15 Agustín de Vertiz

Replacements: 16 Juan Aguirre, 17 Octavio Barbatti, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Federico Rolotti, 20 Facundo Cardozo, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Valentino de Capua, 23 Felipe Mallia

PAMPAS
1 Javier Corvalán, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Manuel Bernstein (capt.), 7 Nicolás D’Amorim, 8 Joaquín Moro, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Jerónimo Ulloa, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Santiago Pernas, 15 Marcos Eliçagaray

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Bottazzini, 17, Renzo Zanella, 18 Estanislao Carullo, 19 Mateo Lorenzo, 20 Santiago Montagner, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Manuel Nogués, 23 Bruno Heit

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (AR)
Assistants: Tomas Bertazza (AR); Tomás Ninci (AR)
TMO: Gustavo Paulin (AR)