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Argentina’s u20 Rugby Championship campaign went from bad to worse on Tuesday. New Zealand humbled and dismantled Los Pumitas in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The 75-21 defeat sees Argentina winless and stranded at bottom of the table after two rounds.
In their opening match, Argentina blew a 20-15 halftime lead against South Africa to lose the contest 36-25. New Zealand also missed out on a win in their opener; New Zealand and Australia competed to a 29-29 draw. The men in black made up for it with a thumping win over Argentina in round two.
New Zealand won the corresponding fixture 34-20 in the 2024 u20 Rugby Championship. The result that day was very different to Argentina’s other matches wherein the South Americans defeated Australia and narrowly fell to South Africa. Moreover, Argentina went on to beat South Africa two times in the 2024 World Rugby u20 Championship.
Signs after two rounds are very different for Los Pumitas. In fact, the writing was on the wall for Nicolás Fernández Miranda’s team. New Zealand dismantled Argentina in the second quarter to lead the match 47-14 at half-time.
Captain Mosese Bason and winger Maloni Kunawave both scored two first-half tries each. Josh Tengblad, Caleb Woodley and Eli Oudenryn all also scored first-half tries for the Baby Blacks. Los Pumitas touched down twice in the half, doing so through hooker Nicolás Cambiasso and winger Martiniano Arrieta.
Argentina’s defense was particularly troublesome in the first-half. New Zealand ran riot, breaking the line time and time again. Handling errors and poor decision making were also weak points of Argentina’s first-half. It was a very different opening half showing compared to that against South Africa in the opening round.
New Zealand won the second-half by four tries to one. Argentina scored the only try of the third quarter; winger Juan Ignacio Carreras scored in the 48th minute. Tamiano Ahloo and Taniela Maisiri scored for New Zealand and David Lewai bagged a double.
The final round will be played on Sunday, May 11. Argentina take-on Australia while New Zealand face South Africa. Los Pumitas will look for a satisfactory conclusion to the disappointing campaign in Port Elizabeth before the u20 World Cup in Italy.
| VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS |
| SCORING |
NEW ZEALAND (75)
Try – M Kunawave 2 (7′, 29′); M Bason 2 (15′, 27′); J Tengblad (21′); C Woodley (37′); E Oudenryn (40′); T Ahloo, (62′); D Lewai 2 (64′, 71′); T Maisiri (74′)
Con (10) – W Cole 8 (8′, 16′, 22′, 27′, 30′, 38′, 40′, 63′, 65′); R Simpson 2 (72′, 75′)
ARGENTINA (21)
Try (3) – M Arrieta (10′); N Cambiasso (34′); JI Carreras (48′)
Con (3) – M Arrieta 3 (11′, 35′, 49′)
| TEAMS |
NEW ZEALAND
1 Sika Pole, 2 Eli Oudenryn, 3 Riley Tofilau, 4 Xavier Treacy, 5 Josh Tengblad, 6 Finn McLeod, 7 Caleb Woodley, 8 Mosese Bason (capt.), 9 Charlie Sinton, 10 Will Cole, 11 David Lewai, 12 Tayne Harvey, 13 Cooper Roberts, 14 Maloni Kunawave, 15 Stanley Solomon
Replacements: 16 Shaun Kempton, 17 Tamiano Ahloo, 18 Robson Faleafa, 19 Harry Irving, 20 Micah Fale, 21 Jai Tamati, 22 Rico Simpson, 23 Taniela Maisiri
ARGENTINA
1 Juan Ignacio Rodríguez, 2 Nicolás Cambiasso, 3 Gael Galván, 4 Tomás Duclos, 5 Álvaro García Iandolino, 6 Tomás Dande, 7 Pampa Storey, 8 Agustín García Campos, 9 Félix Corleto, 10 Ramón Fernández Miranda, 11 Martiniano Arrieta, 12 Felipe Ledesma (capt.), 13 Valentín Maldonado, 14 Juan Ignacio Carreras, 15 Sebastián Dubuc
Replacements: 16 Tadeo Ledesma Arocena, 17 Diego Correa, 18 Ignacio Orsetti, 19 Jeremy Annand, 20 Franco Benítez, 21 Valentino Reggiardo, 22 Pascal Senillosa, 23 Pedro Coll
