Pumas just make it

Argentina's Pumas, well beaten 28-13 by Wales on Saturday and not at full strength for this match, just managed to beat the Worcester Warriors 21-15 at Sixways on Tuesday night.

It was the third of the Pumas' warm-up matches. The first was in Argentina against a South American Selection which the Pumas won 78-15. This Worcester match was the last Puma warm-up before the World Cup. Their next match is against England in Dunedin after which they play Scotland, Romania and Georgia. The signs suggest that their team will not do as well as the 2007 side did under Agustin Pichot.

For the Warriors it was a good preparation for the start of England's Premiership. Their first match is at home against Sale Sharks on 3 September.

The Warriors may have lost this but they felt reasonably pleased with their performance. After all it took a late intercept and a 50-metre run five minutes from full time by tall  Juan Imhoff to score the try which won the match for the Argentinians. Most pleasing for the home side was the aggression they showed in the tackle.

The first half saw a kicking duel between Nicolas Sanchez and Joe Carlisle of the Warriors which ended with the score 9-6 to the home side. The Warriors led l2-9 when Imhoff scored his hard try in the right corner and then again 15-14 when Imhoff scored his gift try.

Scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries: Imhoff 2
Con: Sanchez
Pens: Sanchez 3

For Worcester Warriors:
Pens: Carlisle 5

Teams

Worcester Warriors: 15 Errie Claassens14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Dale Rasmussen, 11 Josh Drauniniu, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Kai Horstmann, 7 Jake Abbott, 6 Neil Best, 5 Craig Gillies 4 James Percival, 53 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 2 Chris Fortey, 1 Matt Mullan,
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington, 17 George Porter, 18 Tevita Taumoepeau, 19 Chris Jones, 20 Sam Betty, 21 Matt Kvesic, 22 Ollie Frost, 23 Andy Goode, 24 Sione Tu'ipulotu, 25 Miles Benjamin

Argentina: 15 Lucas González Amorosino, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Agustín Gosio, 12 Gabriel Ascarate, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Agustín Figuerola, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 6 Alejandro Campos, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 Tomás Vallejos, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Agustín Creevy (capitán), 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 Andrés Bordoy, 17 Juan Figallo, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 20 Nicolás Vergallo, 21 Santiago Fernández, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Gonzalo Camacho, 24 Martín Scelzo

Referee: David Rose (England)
Assistant referees: Paul Dix (England), Alan Biggs (England)
Assessor: Tony Spreadbury (England)