The final match of the tournament saw Canada face off against favourites Argentina in a winner-take-all battle for first place. A sold out crowd of more than three thousand fans provided a wonderful atmosphere for the evening, and they were duly treated to an intense game that was still within either side’s grasp well over an hour into the contest.
The key question before the match was whether Canada could scrum with the much-fancied Jaguar pack. A shaky first scrum perhaps but they quickly adjusted and showed that they were very much up to the task. After nearly fifteen minutes of combat Tyler Ardron made a line break and Cesar Fruttero, sensing a likely try, killed the move at the breakdown. He was quickly dispatched to the bin and Connor Braid coolly slotted the penalty goal to give the Canucks an early lead, but it was short lived.
His counterpart Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias drew things level almost immediately with his own penalty, and then added another after Manuel Montero shrugged off opposite number Josh Hart and made huge inroads down the left flank. Sean White conceded the penalty and got a yellow card of his own for his troubles.
With Argentina now a man up Braid tried to get a little too fancy with a chip kick that was re-gathered and countered by the tournament’s leading try scorer Ramiro Moyano, who touched down for his fourth try in three games. Gonzalez Iglesias converted and his men took a comfortable ten point lead into the break.
Canada came out firing in the second half and Felipe Aranguren captured his side’s second yellow of the night, handing Braid the first of two early kickable penalties. He missed that one, but redeemed himself after White scampered through a gap on the fringe to gain thirty metres and win another penalty.
A blunder at the restart allowed Gonzalez Iglesias to again restore his side’s ten point lead, which held for a good fifteen minutes until Braid clawed Canada back to within a try with his third penalty goal. It wasn’t to be, however, as more restart problems found Canada deep in their own end and Ardron mishandled to give Jeronimo de la Fuente an easy try under the sticks for a seven pointer and effectively rule out any potential comeback. Replacement Javier Rojas sealed the deal with a try of his own in the corner a few short minutes later.
Both sides can be pleased with their ARC campaigns. Argentina won as expected and featured several players who will undoubtedly go on to enjoy strong test careers with the Pumas, and a couple who will go on tour to Europe. Canada found a few probable test players as well, and most pleasingly performed very well at the set piece. Expect to see a few of their squad headed to the UK for their own tour in the coming weeks.
SCORING
14 mins – Connor Braid pen 3-0
17 mins – Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias pen 3-3
21 mins – Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias pen 3-6
30 mins – Ramiro Moyano try 3-11
31 mins – Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias 3-13
47 mins – Connor Braid pen pen 6-13
49 mins – Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias pen 6-16
64 mins – Connor Braid pen 9-16
66 mins – Jeronimo de la Fuente 9-21
66 mins – Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias 9-23
72 mins – Javier Rojas try 9-28
CARDS
14 mins – Cesar Fruttero yellow (not rolling away)
20 mins – Sean White yellow (offside)
44 mins – Felipe Aranguren yellow (hands in the ruck)
CANADA
Liam Underwood (Ciaran Hearn 16-20); Josh Hart (Patrick Kay 45), Nick Blevins (Ciaran Hearn 35), Patrick Parfrey, Clayton Meeres; Connor Braid, Sean White; Hubert Buydens (Jacob Rumball 71), Ray Barkwill (Owen Parfrey 63), Doug Wooldridge; Aaron Flagg (Seb Pearson 63), Jon Phelan; Chris Long, Zac Coughlan (Alistair Clark 67), Tyler Ardron (capt.).
ARGENTINA
Ramiro Moyano (Roman Miralles 67); Matias Masera, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Matias Orlando (Javier Rojas 51), Manuel Montero; Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, Tomas Cubelli (capt.); Francisco Piccanini, Martin Garcia Veiga, Juan Gomez (Ramiro Herrera 67); Cesar Fruttero (Matias Alemanno 67), Felipe Aranguren; Tomas de la Vega, Rodrigo Bruno, Lisandro Ahualli.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Joaquin Montes (Uruguay)
Assistant Referee: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Assistant Referee: Sherry Turnbull (Canada)
