Namibia fall to Argentina A in Bucharest
Argentina A’s bid to retain the IRB Nations Cup crown was bolstered by a handsome seven-try 47-13 victory over Namibia at the Arcul de Triumf stadium in Bucharest on Sunday.
Both sides tried to keep the ball alive, but it was the South Americans’ superior skill and endeavour which proved the difference and maintained their unbeaten record in the competition after a 27-20 defeat of Italy A last Tuesday.
Namibia, who had lost their opening match 26-18 to Rugby World Cup 2007 opponents Georgia, were very much in the game for most of the first half but small unforced errors saw them lose touch with Argentina A as the match progressed.
The Namibians’ cause was not helped when they had flanker Jan Hendrik Duvenhage and replacement Jacques Burger both sent to the sin-bin in quick succession to reduce them to 13 men.
Unfortunately for Namibia, in the nine minute spell when both players were in the sin-bin, Argentina A scored 22 unanswered points to ease to victory over a much improved Namibian side.
Argentina A led 25-6 at half time after tries from wing Gonzalo Camacho and centre Juan Ignacio Gauthier, both converted by fly-half Santiago Fernandez, who also kicked two penalties to cancel out those by Namibia fullback Tertius Losper.
Tries from second row Diego Stuart, number eight Miguel Achaval, Camacho, wing Roman Miralles and flanker Santiago Sanz in the second half saw Argentina A to victory, although they did have Camacho sin-binned.
Namibia’s only try in the match was scored by replacement Jacques Nieuwenhuis and converted by Losper. They now face hosts Romania on Saturday, the same day that Argentina A face the Emerging Springboks.
Argentina A will definitely be without Daniel Augusto Petrilli for that match, the Lyon flank having broken his right leg in training, while Augustin Petrichei sat out the Namibia victory with a muscle tear.
The scorers:
For Argentina A:
Tries: Camacho 2, Gauthier, Stuart, Achaval, Miralles, Sanz
Cons: Fernandez 3
Pens: Fernandez 2
For Namibia:
Try: Nieuwenhuis
Con: Losper
Pen: Losper
Yellow card(s): Camacho (Arg), Duvenhage (Nam), Burger (Nam).
The teams:
Argentina A: 15 Bernardo Stortoni (captain), 14 Roman Miralles, 13 Juan Ignacio Gauthier, 12 Gabriel Ascarate, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Lucio Lopez Fleming, 8 Miguel Achaval, 7 Augusto Petrilli, 6 Santiago Sanz, 5 Felipe Aranguren, 4 Diego Stuart, 3 Francisco Gomez Codela, 2 Javier Caratti, 1 Daniel Rodriguez.
Replacements: 16 Francisco Lecot, 17 Pablo Cardinali, 18 Matias Cortese, 19 Pablo Bouza, 20 Genaro Fessia, 21 Alfredo Lalanne, 22 Santiago Bottini, 23 Federico Amelong, 24 Pablo Gomez Cora, 25 Francisco Merello.
Namibia: 15 Tertius Losper,14 Stefan du Rand, 13 Du Preez Grobler, 12 Corne Powell, 11 Melrick Africa, 10 Pieter Rossouw, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Jurgens van Lill, 7 Herman Lindvelt, 6 Jan Hendrik Duvenhage, 5 Uakazuvaka Kazombiaze, 4 Heino Senekal, 3 Jane du Toit, 2 Rudolf Scheepers Bardenhorst, 1 Gideon Lensing (captain).
Replacements: 16 Hugo Horn, 17 Marius Visser, 18 Jacques Nieuwenhuis, 19 Nico Esterhuizen, 20 Jacques Burger, 21 Tinus du Plessis, 22 Lu-wayne Botes, 23 Heini Bock, 24 Ryan Witbooi, 25 Justinus van der Westhuizen, 26 Jonny Redelinghuys.
With thanks to the IRB
