Los Pumas ease past Chile to stay in the hunt for play-off spot

MATCH REPORT: Argentina stayed in contention for a quarterfinal spot at the World Cup by beating Chile 59-5 on Saturday.

The Pumas' victory sets up a winner-takes-all match against Japan for second place in Pool D.

Flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez marked his 100th cap with the opening try, before flank Juan Martín González and veteran hooker Agustín Creevy – in his record-equalling 18th RWC match for Los Pumas - finished off two line-out mauls to extend the lead.

A yellow card for wing Rodrigo Isgro briefly halted Argentina’s momentum but Martin Bogado’s finish on the resumption sealed the bonus point and after Chile hooker Augusto Bohme had a try ruled out for a forward pass, Los Pumas added further scores via Isgro and González.

Sanchez’s fifth successful conversion saw him overtake Gonzalo Quesada as Argentina’s all-time leading RWC points scorer, the flyhalf finishing with a 20-point haul.

Replacement hooker Tomas Dussaillant crashed over for Chile, but Ignacio Ruiz and Santiago Carreras crossed late on to add further gloss for Argentina.

Sanchez, the Player of the Match, said about the 100-cap milestone: "It was very special for me. My family are here, 100 caps. I am very happy.

"But the most important thing is the team, we planned for this. We play for the team, not for individuals. We are very happy."

Los Pumas captain Jeronimo de la Fuente admitted the game was important for rugby in South America, saying: "It's very important for the South American region this kind of match, so we are happy and [we want] more matches like this."

Man of the match: Argentina No.8 Facundo Isa was immense with ball in hand and he scored one of his team's eight tries. However, the award goes to the veteran flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez who rolled back the years with some great attacking play, which included a great try. His kicking to poles and out of hand was excellent as well.

The scorers:

For Argentina:

Tries: Sanchez, Gonzalez, Creevy, Bogado, Isgro, Isa, Ruiz, Carreras

Cons: Sanchez 6, Carreras 2

Pen: Sanchez

For Chile:

Try: Dussaillant

Yellow card: Rodrigo Isgro (Argentina, 26' - foul play, high tackle)

Argentina: 15 Martin Bogado, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (captain), 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Joel Sclavi.

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Joaquin Oviedo, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Juan Cruz Mallia.

Chile: 15 Inaki Ayarza, 14 Santiago Videla, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 12 Matias Garafulic, 11 José Ignacio Larenas, 10 Rodrigo Fernandez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 8 Raimundo Martínez, 7 Clemente Saavedra, 6 Martín Sigren (captain), 5 Javier Eissmann, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 3 Matias Dittus, 2 Augusto Bohme, 1 Javier Carrasco.

Replacements: 16 Tomas Dussaillant, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Esteban Inostroza, 19 Augusto Sarmiento, 20 Alfonso Escobar, 21 Ignacio Silva, 22 Nicolas Herreros, 23 Francisco Urroz.

Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)

Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland); Chris Busby (Ireland)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

AFP & World Rugby