Argentina Pumas pip Canada
Argentina's understudies recorded a tense 17-16 win over Canada in the Churchill Cup at Fletcher's Fields in Ontario on Saturday.
Argentina's understudies recorded a tense 17-16 win over Canada in the Churchill Cup at Fletcher's Fields in Ontario on Saturday.
With only a few minutes remaining and the game hanging in the balance, Argentina took their legendary mauling skills to a new level, keeping the ball mired in endless piles of humanity going nowhere, leaving a game Canadian team frustrated they could not mount a final drive in the South Americans end.
With a stadium clock showing an optimistic four minutes remaining, the ball went dead on a knock-on and referee Rob Debney blew the whistle for full-time, working correctly from his own watch, as all rugby referees do.
Tyler Hotson helped mount the Canadian comeback effort. Five minutes after coming on for Ottawa native, Stu Ault, Hotson crashed over from a flat pass provided by second row colleague Luke Cudmore.
The conversion by James Pritchard brought Canada to within a point with ten minutes to go.
Canada, sensing victory was within their grasp, began to mount the pressure, but each big run seemed to end in a disappointing knock-on, or kicking possession away.
Pritchard admits the loss probably hurts more than most because of the number of opportunities that went begging.
“We should really be kicking ourselves up the backside for not being able to close that one out,” said the Australian born player who has played for Canada since 2003. “I think sometimes we are trying to do too much out there and it costs us a bit.”
Kieran Crowley, coaching only his second game since taking the helm of the Canadian team in March, admits he was disappointed by the result, because a win was within the team's grasp.
“Disappointed for sure,” said the New Zealander. “We made a lot of improvements over last weekend but we are just missing in a few areas.”
Of his debutant centre Bryn Keys and Tyler Hotson coming on for his first Canada appearance, he was pleased by their performances, but was cautious to point out there is still lots of work to do.
“I thought Bryn showed some good touches, but at times his lack of experience showed a bit, as well,” offered Crowley. “Hotson coming on like he did and scoring the try was good and he showed a lot around the field, so that was a good start for him.”
A scrappy opening forty minutes saw Canada take a slim 6-3 lead over Argentina A – getting a pair of James Pritchard penalty goals to show for their efforts. Argentina got a penalty kick after Aaron Carpenter was given a yellow card for killing the ball.
Argentina scored its first try of the game in the 48th minute – as a short handed Canada struggled to stop wave after wave of Blue attack. Finally flanker AgustÃn Creevy grounded it with the resulting conversion giving them their first lead of the afternoon, 10-6.
Creedy scored his second try a few minutes later, going unmarked under the posts from a maul. Urdapilleta stroked it through to stretch the Argentine lead to 17-6 with twenty five minutes to go.
Pritchard got his third penalty of the game at 55 minutes, putting a twenty-five metre effort through, to make it 17-9 to Argentina.
Replacement Canada lock Hotson was the benefactor of a long run by debutant outside centre Byn Keys who chipped ahead for DTH van der Merwe. The ball then went static before a quick pass saw Luke Cudmore put his second row mate over the line for his first try in a Canada jersey. The conversion was good by James Pritchard, and the Argentine lead had shrunk to a single point, 17-16.
“It was a great feeling for sure,” commented Hotson on his first Canada try.
“I really wasn't sure what Luke was going to do, so I just picked his line and went for it.”
In the remaining ten minutes there were a number of chances, but the Argentine tackling was sublime, shutting the door time and again, frustrating the Canadian attack.
While Canada thought there was still four minutes left on the stadium clock – in fact, full time was upon them as Argentina continued to keep the ball in tight and protect their one point lead.
Referee Debney blew the final whistle and the fans became incensed, believing there was still time left to mount a comeback. It was not to be and Canada lost its second match of the Barclays Churchill Cup by a 17-16 score.
Canada will now face the USA on June 21st in Chicago, and for the third straight year, play for a fifth spot ranking in the tournament.
The scorers:
For Canada:
Tries: Hotson
Cons: Pritchard
Pens: Pritchard 4
For Argentina Pumas:
Tries: Creevy 2
Cons: Urdapilleta 2
Pens: Urdapilleta
The teams:
Canada: 15 Mike Pyke, 14 James Pritchard , 13 Bryn Keys, 12 David Spicer , 11 Justin Mensah-Coker, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Eddie Fairhurst (c), 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Andrew Wilson, 6 Adam Kleeberger, 5 Luke Cudmore, 4 Stu Ault, 3 Scott Franklin, 2 Mike Pletch, 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements: 16 Doug Wooldridge, 17 Ben Johnson, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Ryan Smith, 21 Pat Fleck, 22 DTH van der Merwe.
Argentina Pumas: 15 Román Miralles, 14 Mauro Comuzzi, 13 Federico Amelong, 12 Juan Ignacio Gauthier (c), 11 Francisco Merello, 10 BenjamÃn Urdapilleta, 9 Lucio López Fleming, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Genaro Fessia, 6 AgustÃn Creevy, 5 Felipe Aranguren, 4 Juan Pablo Lagarrigue, 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 2 Rodrigo MarÃa, 1 Daniel RodrÃguez.
Replacements: 16 Juan Pablo Orlando, 17 Ariel Hevia, 18 Carlos Cáceres, 19 Alejandro Abadie, 20 Francisco AlbarracÃn, 21 Gabriel Ascarate, 22 Gonzalo Camacho
With tanks to Rugby Canada