The USA XV claimed a hard-earned 25-24 victory over the Argentina XV on Saturday night. Both teams fought through extreme humidity in Fort Lauderdale. While the visitors led by two points at the half, but Luke Carty’s boot put the home side ahead in the second half and they held on take the spoils at fulltime.
Carty opened the scoring with three points from the boot, but the Argentines were first to find the tryline. After the driving maul gained momentum, MartÃn Vaca broke to the short side to slide into the corner. The flags stayed down on Ignacio Dogliani’s conversion attempt but the visitors looked to be taking the momentum.
It was taken back by the USA when Shilo Klein matched his opposite number’s effort, albeit in a more direct route through the maul. Poor defense handed the lead back to the South Americans. Bautista Lescano took the corner and broke a tackle, feeding Nicolas Viola in support for a runaway finish.
The USA responded with the best try of the match. After keeping the ball alive on a counter-attack, hands down the line found Makeen Alikhan loitering out wide for the finish. But the flanker turned from hero to villain as Viola’s quick tap put the defense in tatters, and Franco Rossetto sliced through bring the scores level. Alikhan was binned for cynical play at the breakdown as Doglioni slotted the extras to make it 17-15 to Argentina after 40 minutes.
Francisco Sluga saw yellow early in the second half for a dangerous clearout. Before the second row returned, Carty sent over three points to give the USA a slender lead. It was stretched to eight points when Marno Redelinghuys burst up the middle just after the hour mark. Carty was on song with the conversion and suddenly the Argentines were two scores behind.
Thiago Sbrocco gave them some hope, finishing from close range after the initial maul had been disrupted. Alejo Sugasti’s 50-22 looked ominous but Brandon Harvey’s lineout steal denied the Argentines a scoring opportunity. One last attack was repelled and ultimately ended with a handling error in the Florida heat.
The USA now turns their attention to next month’s Pacific Nations Cup match against Japan, while the Argentina XV will compete in a remodeled Americas Rugby Championship starting against Paraguay on August 29.
| SCORING |
USA XV 25
Tries (3) – S. Klein (22′), M. Alikhan (34′), M. Redelinghuys (62′)
Cons (2) – L. Carty 2/3 (35′, 63′)
Pens (2) – L. Carty 2/2 (4′, 53′)
YC (1) – M. Alikhan (40′)
ARGENTINA XV 24
Tries (4) – M. Vaca (9′), N. Viola (30′), F. Rossetto (40′), T. Sbrocco (71′)
Cons (2) – I. Dogliani 2/4 (40’+1′, 72′)
YC (1) – F. Sluga (47′)
| TEAMS |
USA XV
1 Payton Telea-Ilalio (Faka’osi Pifeleti 43′), 2 Shilo Klein (16 Alex Maughan 51′), 3 Charlie Abel (18 Ma’ake Muti 66′), 4 Jason Damm (capt.) (19 Tevita Naqali 66′), 5 Nathan Den Hoedt (19 Brandon Harvey 47′), 6 Marno Redelinghuys, 7 Paddy Ryan, 8 Makeen Alikhan (21 Lance Williams 76′), 9 Ruben de Haas (22 Ethan McVeigh 66′), 10 Luke Carty, 11 Joe Mano, 12 Dom Besag, 13 Tavite Lopeti, 14 Mark O’Keeffe (23 Davy Coetzer 44′), 15 Julian Roberts
ARGENTINA XV
1 Nicolás Revol Pitt (17 Diego Correa 48′), 2 MartÃn Vaca (16 Juan Griesing Revol 57′), 3 Marcos Camerlinckx (18 Enzo Avaca 48′), 4 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 5 Francisco Sluga (JoaquÃn DomÃnguez), 6 Nicolás D’Amorim (capt.), 7 AgustÃn Sarelli (20 Felipe Villagrán), 8 Thiago Sbrocco, 9 Nicolás Viola (21 Alejo Sugasti 61′), 10 Ignacio Dogliani, 11 Mateo Pasquini, 12 Bautista Estellés, 13 Tomás Elizalde (23 Facundo Pueyrredon 37′), 14 Bautista Lescano, 15 Franco Rossetto (22 Federico Serpa 73′)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Jérémy Rozier (France)
Assistants: Robin Kaluzniak (Canada) & Peter Pender (Canada)
TMO: Cam Russell (Canada)
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, August 15
Kickoff: 19:30 local
Venue: Miami FC Stadium, Fort Lauderdale
Weather: clear, 86°F (30°C), humidex 97°F (36°C), wind E 6-9mph (10-15km/h)
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