This Saturday, on the field of the Club Atlético San Isidro (CASI), the final of a new edition of the Super Rugby Americas (SRA) was played, a competition that is growing more and more and that has a promising future, taking into account that it is the closest thing to professional rugby that the players who play in Argentina have.
In this context, the two Argentine teams, Pampas and Dogos, played the decisive match. The winner was the team based in Córdoba, which won the game 37 to 23.
First time
The first five minutes had a truly remarkable intensity and parity on the part of both casts.
The first three points came for the Córdoba franchise. Great “fishing” by Wegner (a specialist in the matter), so that Hernández converts. In the same way, a minute later, De la Vega Mendía responded to Pampas.
Then came the tries. First for Dogos, with one of his favorite weapons: the maul. Line at five meters, coordinated push and Bildosola who ends up scoring.
Also with the same strategy, Pampas’ first five points arrived. Line, maul and Corvalán who were among the scorers.
The local team took a small advantage, again through De la Vega Mendía. But two key actions came for Dogos. First, a bad one: yellow for Simes. But, far from giving up in the face of that adversity, Dogos once again reached the try. On this occasion, after a nice interception by Valentín Cabral, he made a run across almost the entire field to put his team ahead.
De la Vega Mendía, with his right foot and with another penalty, gave Pampas the partial advantage by the minimum, 16 to 15.
Second time
The complement, without a doubt, found Dogos much better planted on the court. And it had an exclusive protagonist: Juan Bautista Baronio, who entered at the end of the first stage.
Jockey de Rosario’s flyhalf, who replaced Julián Hernández, scored five consecutive penalties. Reasons why, Dogos little by little, began to celebrate.
But there was quite a bit missing. And Pampas did not give up, but he could not clearly break the good defense of Dogos, who became disorganized and Leonardo Gea Salim received a yellow card.
The Buenos Aires franchise tried, but lost very important balls that generated nervousness in those led by CRAI’s Santa Fe player, Manuel Bernstein.
The dominant Cordoban scrum gave the Cordobans a penalty try and in the last play, with the champion already defined, Pampas contributed a last try that only decorated the scoreboard.
In this way, the best rugby in America has a new champion: it is Dogos, based in Córdoba, but without a doubt it has been a great representative of all of Argentina.
Juan Bautista Baronio, author of 6 penalties, was the great figure of the match. Credit: SRA / Gaspafotos. Synthesis
Pampas: 1. Javier Corvalán (Facundo Scaiano), 2. Ramiro Gurovich (Ignacio Bottazzini) and 3. Estanislao Carullo (Javier Coronel); 4. Eliseo Fourcade (Rodrigo Fernández Criado) and 5. Marcelo Toledo; 6. Manuel Bernstein (captain), 7. Nicolás D’Amorim (Santiago Montagner) and 8. Joaquín Moro; 9. Ignacio Inchauspe (Simón Benítez Cruz) and 10. Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (Manuel Nogués); 11. Jerónimo Ulloa, 12. Justo Piccardo, 13. Juan Pablo Castro (Bruno Heit), 14, Santiago Pernas and 15. Benjamín Elizalde. Coaches: Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Nicolás Vergallo and Rodrigo Martínez.
Doges XV: 1. Boris Wenger, 2. Tomás Bartolini and 3. Octavio Filippa (Pedro Delgado); 4. Lautaro Simes and 5. Franco Molina (captain); 6. Aitor Bildosola (Facundo Cardozo), 7. Valentín Cabral and 8. Efraín Elías. 9. Agustín Moyano and 10. Julián Hernández (Juan Bautista Baronio), 11. Felipe Mallía (Agustín de Vertiz), 12. Faustino Sánchez Valarolo (Agustín Segura), 13. Leonardo Gea Salim, 14. Lautaro Cipriani and 15. Mateo Soler . Coaches: Nicolás Galatro, Stéfano Ambrosio and Diego Ghiglione.
They did not enter: Santos Juárez Estrada, Francisco Aguirre and Lorenzo Colidio.
So many in the first half: 5m, penalty by Julián Hernández (D); 7m, penalty by Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (P); 11m, try by Aitor Bildosola converted by Julián Hernández (R); 16m, try by Javier Corvalán converted by Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (P); 23m, penalty by Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (P); 26m, try by Valentín Cabral (R); 33m, penalty by Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (P); 68m, penalty by Juan Bautista Baronio (D);
Incidents: 24m, Lautaro Simes (D) cautioned
Partial result: Pampas 16 vs. Dogos XV 15
So many in the second half: 43m, penalty by Juan Bautista Baronio (D); 48m, penalty by Juan Bautista Baronio (R); 53m; prison of Juan Bautista Baronio (D); 66m, penalty by Juan Bautista Baronio (R); 68m, penalty by Juan Bautista Baronio (D); 79m, penalty try (R); 78m, penalty try (R); 80m, try by Facundo Scaiano converted by Manuel Nogués (P).
Incidents: 70m, Leonardo Gea Salim (D) cautioned
Final score: Pampas 21 vs. Dogos XV 37
Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Basketball court: Club Atlético de San Isidro
