There are winds of change in CUBA. A team that was energized, filled with confidence and with the 52-13 win over Champagnat moves away from the last places, with the premise of continuing the lift and getting closer to the semi-finalists. The overwhelming victory over one of the newly promoted teams excites those from Villa de Mayo, who have gone four games without losing and today achieved a performance with few cracks.
The URBA Top 12 has not yet reached the halfway point of the regular season and there is a long stretch to go, but yesterday was a date that could mark a break: with the end of the Super Rugby Americas, the Pampas players were enabled to return to their clubs. CUBA was one of those that suffered the most from this bleeding in the first part of the tournament and on the cloudy afternoon in Villa de Mayo it had the return of several of its figures. “It’s always nice to come back to the club and play with friends. It was a long tournament with Pampas, but returning to the club is something that is always missed,” highlighted Estanislao Carullo, who played in the final as a starter in the loss of the Buenos Aires franchise against Dogos XV, and yesterday wore the number 3 shirt of his team. club and showed all his hierarchy: he supported a try, advanced meters every time he touched the ball, pushed in the scrum and was one of the figures on the field.
“It was an intense year with Pampas and a very tough preparation, but now we have changed the chip. “We spoke with Marcos and Moncho and we wanted to return and contribute what we have to the club,” Carullo highlighted.. Marcos Eliçagaray and Simón Benítez Cruz also returned after being involved with Pampas, while Rafael Iriarte returned two dates earlier, after his time with Selknam in Chile. Everyone gave a leap in quality to the team. Carullo from his power, Eliçagaray from his order and elegance in the center of the field and his foot, while Iriarte and Benítez Cruz alternated the role of scrum-half. The first gave rhythm to the game with flat passes and the second a lot of vertigo running the base.
At home, CUBA played a serious game from start to finish; Within a minute of play he was already winning thanks to Benito Ortiz de Rozas’ try and at 80′ he scored the eighth try on the last ball of the afternoon, with a popcorn from Valentín Mastroizzi. He did not give rise to the reaction of his rival, beyond the great play that led to the try of Tomás Baca Castex, who scored his tenth victory in the competition and is the leader in that area along with Ignacio Díaz, from Belgrano Athletic .
CUBA subdued him with their forward pack, especially with their scrum: in total they forced six penalties due to the push in that formation, including a try at the start of the second half. “We went looking for him and from the solidity of the fixed formations the game came. From the scrum line and the maul we were very strong,” analyzed Carullo, key in the fixed position.
The local team also hurt from the line. Enrique Devoto scored a try in the first half, after a good push from the maul, while Segundo Pisani found a gap from the line, filtered through and was unopposed. But he was also efficient when he went into hand play, with the freshness of his backs. Like the tries by Ortiz de Rozas and Francisco Sied, with straight lines and good hands. Or that of Francisco Patrono, after a slap from Valentín Mastroizzi, the 10 who plays, makes people play and also scores with tries: he had scored against SIC two weeks ago and today he supported again after an assist from Lucas Campion.
CUBA was so even, they scored 26 points per half and four tries in each half. He did not stop with the red card to Benito Ortiz de Rozas, the product of two yellow cards at 13 ‘of the second half, and accelerated against an opponent who did not find any facet of the game to support himself. After 10 dates, Champagnat only won the classic against Newman and with some injured players he is having a hard time getting wins. With auspicious playing intentions and dynamic backs, he will have to adjust to the fixed formations to try to remain among the URBA elite.
Francisco Sied’s colorful try
CUBA recovers soldiers and the free date did not make it lose momentum. After six losses in the first six games, they tied against CASI and beat Alumni and SIC, three of the candidates to reach the semifinals. The win over Champagnat is another step in the construction of a team that wants to be a protagonist again.
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CUBA: Mark Moroni; Bautista Casaurang, Felipe Perdomo, Marcos Eliçagaray and Francisco Patrono; Valentín Mastroizzi and Rafael Iriarte; Benito Ortiz de Rozas, Segundo Pisani (captain) and Francisco Sied; Santiago Uriarte and Santiago Landau; Estanislao Carullo, Enrique Devoto and Facundo Aguirre
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Changes: ST: 6 minutes Simón Benítez Cruz for Iriarte, Lucas Campion for Sied, Felipe De la Vega for Perdomo and Francisco Garoby for Aguirre, 25′ Esteban Iribarne for Carullo and Tomás Anderlic for Devoto, 28′ Pedro Mesones for Casaurang.
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Coaches: Lucas Piña, Joaquín Hardoy and Agustín Güemes.
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Champagnat: Gerónimo Tomasella; Facundo Rufino, Tomás Cotter Daireaux, Tobías Imbrosciano (captain) and Tomas Baca Castex; Santos Panelo and Martín Graciarena; Matías Muniagurria, Lucas Moresco and Matías Alonso Boto; Iñaki Ustariz and Tobías Rivas Orozco; Marcos Magaro, Joaquín Guerra and Manuel Mauvecín.
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Changes: ST: 19 minutes Marcos Lafuente for Baca Castex, 25′ Tomás Alonso Boto for Moresco, Tomás Yanzon for Magaro and Pedro Del Piano for Graciarena, 29′ Federico Domínguez for Guerra and Tomás Gómez for Tomasella.
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Coaches: Facundo Villanueva, Federico Domínguez, Máximo Galli and Fernando Guateri
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First time: 1 minute try by Ortiz de Rozas (CU), 6′ penalty by Imbrosciano (CH), 8′ goal by Imbrosciano for a try by Baca Castex (CH), 23′ goal by Moroni for a try by Carullo (CU), 28′ goal by Moroni for a try by Devoto (CU), 31′ goal by Moroni for a try by Sied (CU), 37′ penalty by Imbrosciano (CH). Partial result: CUBA 26-13 Champagnat
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26 minutes Yellow to Tomasella, 36′ Yellow to Ortiz de Rozas (CU)
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Second time: 7 minutes penalty try (CU), 20′ goal by Moroni for a try by Pisani (CU), 25′ try for Patrono (CU), 80′ goal for Moroni for a try by Mastroizzi (C). Partial result: CUBA 26-0 Champagnat.
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10′ Yellow to Mauvecín (CH), 13′ red to Ortiz de Rozas (CU)
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Referee: Pablo Deluca.
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Basketball court: CUBA.
