Jaguars feast on US meat in the snow
The United States Select XV had a tough day at the snow-covered Infinity Park, at Glendale, Colorado, on Saturday, falling 10-57 to the Argentina Jaguars in the Americas Championship semifinals.
"The Jaguars were better on the day, there are no excuses," US Select XV head coach Paul Keeler said.
"We made too many errors and they're a strong team so they capitalized on them. The team cannot make these mistakes if they want to compete at this level," US Select XV Head Coach Paul Keeler said following the match.
"However, from here we must move forward and look ahead to next weekend. We'll solidify our defence and work past this performance - we can't blame fitness, we can't blame the weather, we need to step up our level of play."
The Jaguars pounced early on and hardly looked back in an eight-try effort.
Flyhalf Benjamin Urdapilleta started the scoring charge with a try inside the first minute and led Argentina with 22 points on the day, thanks to his accurate boot - kicking seven conversions and one penalty.
Trailing 0-12 with 13 minutes gone, the US Select XV capitalized on an offsides penalty against Argentina when US centre Volney Rouse connected on his second attempt at the posts, narrowing the gap 12-3.
As the half pressed on, the Americans struggled to gain momentum against the stiff Argentina defence. That is, until minute 29 when centre Corey Blair caught a quick offload and split the Argentina to dot down the team's lone try. With Rouse again connecting for the extras, the US kept their hopes alive, still trailing the Jaguars 10-22.
Before the end of the half, Argentina would put up 14 more points - a try a piece from Horacio San Martin and Leonardo Senatore, and Urdapilleta converting both – sending the sides to the lockers at 36-10.
A resilient US team took the field after the break and looked to score early on, but handling errors ultimately proved all too costly and the US Select XV was held scoreless for the remainder of the match.
With less than three minutes gone in the second half, the US's Nese Malifa cleared the ball deep into Argentina territory and the team looked to score but was pushed out and sent packing to defend its own line.
The Select XV held strong until the 45th minute, when Lucas Barrero Oro crossed over for the team's first try of the half.
From there, Argentina continued to hold control of the game, dominating possession and putting in two more tries (Juan Imhoff and Federico Nicolas Sanchez) before the final whistle.
In the end it was Argentina 57, US Selects 10.
The US now has a week to regroup before facing the Ontario Blues in the Americas Rugby Championship bronze match on Saturday, October 17, at Fletchers Field in Markham, Ontario.
The Argentina Jaguars will face the British Columbia Bears in the title match.
Scorers:
United States Select XV:
Try: Blair
Con: Rouse
Pen: Rouse
Argentina Jaguars:
Tries: Urdapilleta, Moyano, Caceres, Martin, Senatore, Oro, Imhoff, Sanchez
Cons: Urdapilleta 7
Pen: Urdapilleta
Teams:
US Select XV: 15 Mark Roberts, 14 Eric Walton, 13 Corey Blair, 12 Volney Rouse, 11 Peter Sio, 10 Maximo DeAchaval, 9 Brendan Thompson, 8 Nic Johnson (captain), 7 Steve St Pierre, 6 Garrett Peterson, 5 Samu Manoa, 4 Brian Doyle, 3 Phil Thiel, 2 Chris Baumann, 1 Jacob Sprague.
Replacements: 16 Tony Lewis, 17 Jim Jewison, 18 Dan La Prevotte, 19 Patrick Danahy, 20 Benny Mateialona, 21 Nese Malifa, 22 Kevin Swiryn.
Argentina Jaguars: 15 Lucas Barrero Oro, 14 Martin Bustos Moyano, 13 Paolo Mac, 12 Horacio San Martin, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Francisco Cubelli, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Dino Caceres, 6 Rodrigo Bruno, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 Carlos Caceres, 3 Matias Naruaez, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Federico Merlo.
Replacements: 16 Maxmiliano Bustos, 17 Esteban Bustillo, 18 Hugo Schieranno, 19 Rodrigo Baez, 20 Hernan Oliuari, 21 Federico Nicolas Sanchez, 22 Facundo Vega.
Referee: Dave Smortchevsky (Canada)
Assistant referees: Tim Luscombe (US), Brian Zapp (US)