Peñarol’s quest to defend their Super Rugby Americas (SRA) title took a hit on Friday as Los Pampas put the reigning champions to the sword. Played at La Catedral in Buenos Aires, Los Pampas scored a bonus point victory without conceding a try.
The match was locked at 0-0 for a long time. The opening points game on 28 minutes when fullback, Tobías Wade scored his first of two tries in the match. The try saw Wade bumping off Peñarol fly half, Justo Ferrario. Bautista Farisé converted and landed a penalty late in the half.
Peñarol responded to Farisé’s penalty with one of their own; Justo Ferrario kicked a three-pointer for Peñarol’s only score of the night. With it, the scoresheet was 10-3 at halftime in favor of the hosts.
Los Pampas started the second-half strongly. From a maul, hooker Ignacio Bottazzini powered over to score in the first-minute after the interval. Replacement Lucas Moresco also used his strength to score the next try; his score gave the Buenos Aires team a three score lead.
With the match nearing its conclusion, Los Pampas added to further tries to complete a memorable bonus point triumph. A sharp pass to the left put replacement winger Jerónimo Ulloa over while Tobías Wade scored with time up in what was the best try of the night.
The 34-3 win means Los Pampas are well placed in the SRA standings. The team is on track for a home Semi Final. Meanwhile, Peñarol are outside of the play-off’s zone; the Montevideo-based side must improve or the team will be unable to defend their title.
| SCORING |
PAMPAS (34)
TRY – T Wade 2 (28′, 80′); I Bottazzini, (41′); L Moresco (61′); J Ulloa (77′)
CON – B Farisé (29′, 42′, 62′)
PEN – B Farisé (37′)
PENAROL (3)
PEN – J Ferrario (40′)
 LINE-UPS |
PAMPAS
1 Matías Medrano, 2 Ignacio Bottazzini, 3 Marcos Camerlinckx, 4 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 5 Francisco Sluga, 6 Augusto Cabano Wall, 7 Faustino Santarelli, 8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 9 Lucas Marguery (capt.), 10 Bautista Farisé, 11 Santiago Cordero, 12 Juan Cruz Corso, 13 Agustín Fraga, 14 Santiago Pernas, 15 Tobías Wade
Replacements: 16 Francisco Lusarreta, 17 Nahuel Zunini, 18 Ramiro Berardi Calvo, 19 Marcelo Toledo, 20 Lucas Moresco, 21 Alejo Lavayén, 22 Estanislao Renthel, 23 Jerónimo Ulloa
PENAROL
1 Francisco Suárez Soto, 2 Joaquin Myszka, 3 Jesus Porro, 4 Ethan Fryer, 5 Manuel Rosmarino, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi (capt.), 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Alejandro Molinas, 10 Justo Ferrario, 11 Tomás Baca Castex, 12 Juan Manuel Alonso, 13 Noah Riley, 14 Ignacio Facciolo, 15 Santiago Marolda
Replacements: 16 Foster Dewitt, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Agustín Iglesias, 19 José Ignacio Rodriguez, 20 Manuel Ponte, 21 Ícaro Amarillo, 22 Mateo Acosta, 23 Nicolás Pittaluga
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
| WEEK SIX – MATCH OFFICIALS |
VS
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Cauã Ricardo (Brazil); Simón Larrubia (Argentina)