The premiere at the Pumas Rugby Championship, the Argentine rugby team, went with loss to world champion South Africa, which beat the national cast by 32-12 in a match in which those led by Mario Ledesma never reached the ingoal at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, in the city of Gqeberha (former Porth Elizabeth).
The first two tries of the Springboks were a metaphor for what would be the meeting for the first date of the contest that brings together the representatives of the southern hemisphere. The play that opened the ingoal for the South Africans came after an Argentine handling error, after a frustrated maneuver that ended with a loss and the lethal offense of the locals, crowned by scrum half Cobus Reinach.
At 18 minutes, the second try came, which began to widen the difference in a game in which, beyond the scoreboard, there was a clear supremacy of the men of South Africa. The play that became the score that put the action 15-3 It was spectacular. Eben Etzebeth won the ball in midair and then gave way to Elton jantjies, who unleashed an exquisite kick to the left, for the lone arrival of his wing Aphelele Fassi, who received and faced without major problems for the ingoal.
The South African dominance, that which with force and brilliance was more and even forced Argentine errors, it took time to make a difference. In the second half, the score was expanded when the debutant Jaden Hendrikse supported, to inflate a score that was completed with five penalties and a conversion by Jantjies to add the always welcome bonus point, taking advantage of the locals until the flow of infringements delivered by the team of Ledesma.
The Pumas They only managed to score with Nicolás Sánchez’s hits to the H, in a game in which the Tucuman scored four penalties. In the Albiceleste team, which in the successful tour of Europe had defeated Wales, champion of the Six Nations tournament, Carlos Muzzio from Corrientes entered, who a week after his 37th birthday became the oldest debutant in the history of the Argentine national team. .
For the same tournament, previously, the All Blacks, selected from New Zealand, debuted with a win against the Wallabies, his peer from Australia, by 57-22, at Eden Park in Auckland, which also meant that they won the Bledisloe Cup for the twentieth consecutive time, a trophy that both oceanic countries dispute annually.
The table of positions is headed at the close of this initial date by New Zealand and South Africa, with five units each., while Australia and Argentina do not add any. The Argentine team will be measured next Saturday again with the Springboks, at the same venue on this day and with the same schedule, from 12:05.
The Argentines will then continue their participation in the Rugby Championship September 11, when they face the All Blacks, with whom a week later they will play the rematch, in the cities of Dunedin and Auckland, respectively. Finally, Australia will be the rival of the last two games: on September 25, at the Jones Stadium in Newcastle, and on October 2, at the GIO Stadium in Canberra.
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