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The decisive Pool C contest between Argentina and England at the Junior World Championship went down to the wire. Only two points separated the teams in a match which had 78 points scored. The highly competitive showdown went England’s way with a final score of 40-38.
The outcome of the match sees England into the Semi Finals while Los Pumitas will enter to compete in the next category below. Argentina are now chasing a highest finish of 5th Place in Georgia.
England were in control at half-time with a 28-12 lead. Will Knight, James Pater, Jimmy Staples , and Aiden Ainsworth-Cave scored for England compared to one try each to Tomás Dande, and Manuel Cuneo Camargo for Los Pumitas.
The real talking point was not England’s four tries to two lead; instead, it was the officiating. One incident saw TMO Matt Rodden alerting referee Christopher Allison to “definite head contact.” There appeared to be little in it but it was yellow carded and upgraded to a red card.
The red card changed the flow of the match. England had a period of control and turned their numerical advantage into tries to go well ahead before Los Pumitas managed to begin their fight-back.
The second-half started like the first-half ended as Aiden Ainsworth-Cave scored for England. Bautista Lescano got one back for Argentina but it was not before long before James Pater scored his second try and Argentina lost Bautista Benavides to a yellow card.
Despite losing a second-rower for 10 minutes, Argentina played enterprising rugby. Simón Pfister continued his strong Junior World Championship with a try from fullback.
A Pumitas attack on 61 minutes ended with Christopher Allison calling a forward pass with a two on one play down the right. Replays showed it should have been play on. Regardless, the TMO was not consulted. England were awarded a scrum from which they won a penalty.
The South Americans were 40-24 behind with the match well into the final quarter. Negotiating questionable officiating continued with Elliot Williams offside on the wrong side of a ruck not called. Los Pumitas did not give in and both Pfister and Lescano scored additional tries in the final minutes to set-up a thrilling ending to the match.
England were two points ahead but there was still time remaining. Los Pumitas put together phases to get well inside the English half. Ultimately, England were awarded a penalty and the match concluded. It was a game with plenty of tries and errors from both teams as well as from the referee and TMO.
| SCORING |
ARGENTINA U20 (38)
TRY – T Dande (8′), M Cuneo Camargo (27′), B Lescano 2 (46′, 72′), S Pfister 2 (52′, 78′)
CON – F Serpa Laporte 2 (9′, 53′), M Giannantonio 2 (72′, 79′)
YC – B Benavides (50′)
RC – B Ordiz Yujnovsky (16′)
ENGLAND (40)
TRY – W Knight (13′), J Pater 2 (20′, 50′), J Staples (36′), A Ainsworth-Cave 2 (39′, 42′)
CON – H Shields 5 (14′, 21′, 36′, 40′, 42′)
YC – E Williams (69′), W Knight (72′)
| LINE-UPS |
ARGENTINA U20 (38)
1 Benjamín Farías Cerioni, 2 Manuel Cuneo Camargo, 3 Bautista Salinas Mallea, 4 Joaquín Pascual Viale, 5 Bautista Benavides, 6 Tomás Dandé (capt.), 7 Jerónimo Sorondo, 8 Federico Torre, 9 Juan Preumayr, 10 Federico Serpa Laporte, 11 Luciano Avaca, 12 Benjamín Ordiz Yujnovsky, 13 Pedro Coll, 14 Bautista Lescano, 15 Simón Pfister
Replacements: 16 Nicolás Cambiasso, 17 Fabrizio Cebron, 18 Federico Narváez, 19 Felipe Hygonenq, 20 Basilio Cañas, 21 Valentino Reggiardo, 22 Manuel Giannantonio, 23 Ramón Fernández Miranda
ENGLAND (40)
1 Oliver Scola, 2 Jimmy Staples, 3 Ollie Streeter, 4 Elliot Williams, 5 Aiden Ainsworth-Cave, 6 Tate Williams, 7 Seb Kelly, 8 Connor Treacey (capt.), 9 Lucas Friday, 10 Hugh Shields, 11 Sam Winters, 12 Will Knight, 13 Nick Lilley, 14 Tyler Offiah, 15 James Pater
Replacements: 16 Jerold Gorleku, 17 Oliver Spencer, 18 Sonny Tonga’uiha, 19 Patrick Hogg, 20 George Marsh, 21 Jonny Weimann, 22 Finn Keylock, 23 George Pearson
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
