Argentina XV Runs Past Falcons

10.19.2022

Argentina XV defeated the USA Falcons 81-21 Tuesday night in the second of this Falcons team's two-match South American trip.

USA Falcons Fall to Uruguay XV

This Falcons team is a group of mostly younger players looking to break into the USA lineup for the Final Qualifier Series this November in Dubai. What they found in this game was an Argentina XV side with a ton of skill and the ability to shift focus when they needed to.

Te invitamos a revivir los mejores momentos de la victoria de Argentina XV ante USA Falcons por 81-21 en el debut del Uruguay Conference 2022.

domingo 23/10 desde las 17:10hs vs Uruguay XV.

¡Muchas gracias a todos por sus mensajes de aliento!#VamosArgentinaXV pic.twitter.com/1IQj0RC6Wv
— Unión Argentina de Rugby (@unionargentina) October 19, 2022

The Argentina XV side started off using their forwards to pull in defenders, and then the backs to shoot it wide very quickly. When the Falcons decided to guard the outside a bit more, the forwards just went up the middle.

Overall, the Argentina ball handling and basic skill set were outstanding. Their kicking was superior and they used that to get over the defense or gain large tracts of territory. Their fitness was good to, leaving the Falcons often flailing as the score piled up.

Perhaps the best Falcons sequence was from minute 2 through minute to about minute 30, during which time Argentina XV managed just the one try, and the Falcons also scored, with a well-taken maul leading to hooker Alex Lopeti touching down.

But after that Argentina XV went on a scoring spreed, scoring five straight tries over a 25-minute period, and the game was out of reach. The Eagles did manage a try in the middle of the second half with recent West Point grad Darby KoiKoi Nelligan going over; after that a nicely-taken score off a restart when Willis Goodwin tapped it back to center Dom Iacovino, who raced in. Line Latu's conversion made it 57-21 at the time.

But Argentina XV was not done and they put in four tries in the final 12 minutes. The result is a tough one for these players and it will be difficult for USA Head Coach Gary Gold to filter through it to find players who stood out. It does seem like Jason Damm at No. 8 and Iacovino at center had some strong moments. But the key will be seeing who kept playing late in the game when it was toughest.

USA Falcons 21
Tries: Lopeti, Nelligan, Iacovino
Convs: Latu 3

Argentina XV 81
Tries: Lando, D'Amorim, Bernasconi, Lopez Fernandez, Soler 2, Morales, Mernes 2, Molina, Ruiz 3
Convs: Lamas 4, de la Vega Mendia 4