Argentina relegates Samoa in 95-point thriller
Samoa finishes 12th and are relegated to the World Rugby U20 Trophy in 2018 while Argentina survive to end the tournament in 11th place.
Argentina started with purpose and immediately drew a penalty from Samoa that Tomas Albornoz goaled. Argentina then extended their lead following a powerful driving maul that saw Jose Gonzalez dotting down. Albornoz added the extras to ensure a 10-0 lead after eight minutes.
A further two converted tries took Argentina's lead to 24-0 after just 14 minutes before Samoa finally got themselves on the board. Their forwards went to work and came close to dotting down before Losi Filipo decides to fly the ball out to Hunter Paisami, who used his speed and footwork to score.
Samoa found themselves on the back foot from the restart and Argentina again upped the tempo. Bautista Delguy opened his box of tricks having spotted space in behind the defenders. Delguy seamlessly chipped and collected to score a glorious try. Albornoz' conversion took Argentina into the break with a 31-7 lead.
Samoa were the first to score in the second period when another maul went rumbling. Setu Enoka broke off the blindside and scored. Paisam adds the conversion to reduce the deficit to 14-31. However, Argentina restored their lead as Albornoz bagged a converted try.
But Samoa hit back to reduce the deficit once again to 21-38, only to see Argentina hit back to put some distance between the teams, 53-28. Samoa closed out the game on the front foot to end the scoring and the match.
Scorers:
For Samoa:
Tries: Paisami 2, Enoka, Moore, Fonoti, Pohla
Cons: Paisami 5, Tinei
For Argentina:
Tries: J Gonzalez, Delguy 2, L Gonzalez 2, Albornoz, Malanos
Cons: Albornoz 6
Pens: Albornoz 2
Samoa: 15 Alexander Pohla-Muray, 14 Darren Moore, 13 Hunter Paisami, 12 Taniula Tele'a, 11 Losilosivale Filipo, 10 Kerrod Christian Foaese, 9 Pupi Ah See, 8 Sione Tuipolotu, 7 Caleb Faalili, 6 Wyatt-Misitaga Uauta-Setu, 5 Peato Toeafe, 4 Theodore Avei Solipo, 3 Suetena Asomua, 2 Petelo Ikenasio, 1 Setu Enoka.
Replacements: 16 Frank Tupuola, 17 Afioga Ielemia, 18 Noel Sanft, 19 Shammah-Anthony Solomona, 20 Francis Ah Him, 21 Godinet Tinei, 22 Tagaloa Fonoti, 23 Ricky Pauli Ene.
Argentina: 15 Bautista Delguy, 14 Tomás Malanos (captain), 13 Felipe Maria Freyre, 12 Teo Castiglioni, 11 Luciano González, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 9 Matías Sauze, 8 Nicolàs Walker, 7 Agustín Medrano, 6 Bautista Stávile, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Christian Nahuel Milan, 3 Alejandro Luna, 2 José Luis González, 1 Santiago Pullela.
Replacements: 16 Leonel Oviedo, 17 Rodrigo Martínez, 18 Jeremias Tarter, 19 Alfonso Tomas Zottola, 20 Santiago Ruiz, 21 Gonzalo García, 22 Juan B Daireaux, 23 Facundo Ferrario.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Tasuku Kawahara (Japan)
TMO: Charles Samson (Scotland)
