Pumas add to north's misery
Felipe Contepomi became Argentina's all time top points scorer with a personal haul of 22 in his team's 37-22 win over Italy in San Juan.
The win by the Pumas completed a Southern Hemisphere clean sweep in the opening weekend of the June Tests.
Contepomi scored a try, three penalties and four conversions to ensure Argentina join New Zealand (42-10 over Ireland), Australia (27-19 over Wales) and South Africa (22-17 over England) in recording Rugby Championship wins over their Six Nations rivals.
Whilst they outscored Italy by four tries to three, Argentina will be concerned about the struggling performance of their pack ahead of their two-Test series against France.
Usually the cornerstone of their game, Argentina’s scrum was under the cosh and even conceded a penalty try.
The Pumas face France at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in the city of Cordoba on Saturday, June 16, before a second Test against Les Blues a week later at Estadio Jose Fierro, in Tucuman.
Scorers:
Argentina
Tries: Contepomi, Leonardi, Roncero, Senatore
Cons: Contepomi 4
Pens: Contepomi 3
Italy
Tries: Bergamasco, Gori, Penalty
Cons: Bocchino, Burton
Pen: Burton
Teams:
Argentina: 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Belisario Agulla, 13 Gabriel Ascarate, 12 Felipe Contepomi (captain), 11 Agustin Gosio, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Tomas Leonardi, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Julio Farias Cabello, 4 Benjamin Macome, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Bruno Postiglioni, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Santiago Guzman, 19 Tomas de la Vega, 20 Tomas Cubelli, 21 Manuel Montero, 22 Roman Miralles.
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Tommaso Benvenuti, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Alberto de Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Lorenzo Romano, 18 Joshua Furno, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Tito Tebaldi, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Giulio Tontiolatti.
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)