The first match of the tournament pits the United States against the tournament favorite Jaguars in what could be a brutal lesson in forward superiority. Whilst the Americans give nothing away anything in bulk, they are heavily outgunned in combat experience and cohesiveness in the tight. The Argentinean pack boasts six full internationals including two members, Bruno Postiglioni and Tomas de la Vega, of the senior training squad from the inaugural Rugby Championship. Meanwhile the Americans must rely on just five caps between Derek Asbun and Taylor Mokate, while another four have yet to play a game at any senior representative level. Young tighthead Zach Fenoglio normally plies his trade at hooker for his club and he could not have imagined a tougher test for his senior debut.
Former Leeds and Leinster prop Juan Gomez adds leadership along with Postiglioni in the front row, but it is openside de la Vega and promising second row Matias Alemanno who will be of the most interest to Santiago Phelan’s scouting department. Squad captain Tomas Cubelli has also been training with the senior squad and many speak just as highly of him as new Puma scrumhalf Martin Landajo, who impressed against Australia and New Zealand.
The new golden boy of Argentinean rugby, however, has to be winger Manuel Montero. Standing 193cm (6’4″) and weighing 103kg (225 lbs), never have they had such a physically imposing back of real quality. Though he is the youngest member of the squad he has already scored six tries at test level in only six matches, including a match winner against France in Cordoba this past June. Those who have seen him tear up the IRB 7s circuit will know what to expect. Let’s just hope he sees enough of the ball to show us what he can do.
If the Americans are up against it in the tight phases it will have to be their back row that finds them the ball in the loose. Luckily it is there that their main strength lies. Mokate’s power and combativeness is contrasted with Cameron Dolan’s pace and skill, while former Ireland u18 flanker John Quill will look to cause problems at the breakdown. If he succeeds, expect fellow Irishman Gearoid McDonald to try and put the ball into the corners and attack the Argentine lineout, where Dolan and Tom Katzfey excel.
Coach Mike Tolkin has picked two footballers in Cornelius Dirksen and Zach Pangelinan on the wings and with two hard running centres you can bet there won’t be much fiddling about amongst the backs. Jack Tracy and Dean Gericke will have a size advantage on their opposite numbers so in theory they should be able to get over the gainline on first phase, but that might be difficult if the gainline is moving towards them at a rate of knots.
It won’t be a classic, but expect Argentina to take this one fairly handily. They simply have too much up front and have trained together far more than the Americans. Jaguars by 20.
UNITED STATES
Chris Chapman; Cornelius Dirksen, Dean Gericke, Jack Tracy, Zach Pangelinan; Gearoid McDonald, Benny Meteialona; Nick Wallace, Derek Asbun, Zach Fenoglio; Tom Katzfey, Graham Harriman; Cameron Dolan (capt.), John Quill, Taylor Mokate. RES: Stan Moa’ali’i, Tony Purpura, Tim Paulsen, Nick Civetta, Kris Headlee, Shaun Davies, Zac Mizell, Miles Craigwell.
ARGENTINA
Roman Miralles; Facundo Barrea, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Javier Rojas, Manuel Montero; Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, Tomas Cubelli (capt.); Francisco Piccinini, Bruno Postiglioni, Juan Gomez; Felipe Aranguren, Matias Alemanno; Tomas de la Vega, Rodrigo Bruno, Benjamin Macome. RES: Martin Garcia Veiga, Ignacio Saenz, Ramiro Herrera, Alejandro Campos, Lisandro Ahualli, Marcos Bollini, Valentin Cruz, Ramiro Moyano.
