RWC2011 Pool Match Report: Argentina -v- Romania

INVERCARGILL, 17 Sept. - Argentina bounced back from their narrow defeat to England by running in four first-half tries before sealing a 43-8 bonus-point win in their Pool B clash with Romania on Saturday.

Although the match was billed as a battle between the two powerful packs, the Pumas were having none of it and chose to run at every opportunity on a bright but breezy afternoon at Rugby Park Stadium.

Despite their progress being slowed by injuries and rugged Romanian resistance after the interval, they still managed to cross the whitewash twice again and kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the knockouts.

After the match, captain Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe expressed his satisfaction with the crucial victory.

"We were desperate to get a win, that was our only option today," he said. "We were looking for a win today that gave us confidence and that game gave us confidence."

A week after their attritional battle with England the Pumas opened their account early.

Wrestling control

Santiago Fernández, starting at fly half instead of injured skipper Felipe Contepomi, sliced through some slack defending in the fifth minute for a try near the posts which Martín Rodríguez converted.

Four minutes later flanker Juan Manuel Leguizamón juggled a pass on the 22m line before gathering and barging over the line.

The big Romanian forwards tried to wrestle some control over the game and Tiberius Ionut Dimofte narrowed the gap to 14-3 with a penalty after 13 minutes.

But prop Juan Figallo registered Argentina's third try with just a quarter of the match gone after a quick tapped penalty by scrum half Nicolás Vergallo.

Enterprising full back and man of the match Lucas González Amorosino exploited more holes in the Romania defence to touch down under the posts before The Oaks responded with a try out wide on the left by wing Ionel Cazan in 32nd minute.

Dogged resistance

After turning round 26-8 down, the Romanians’ tackle count kept on growing and prop Mihaita Alexandru Lazar was sin-binned in the 53rd minute for illegally stifling yet another Pumas’ attack.

Despite more dogged resistance, Juan José Imhoff, who had replaced right wing Gonzalo Camacho, was able to sprint clear to score under the posts just seconds before Lazar’s return - his eighth try in six Tests.

With eight minutes remaining The Oaks looked set to score a sensational try after a breakout from their own 22.

But when the ball was spilled near the Argentina line, the Pumas mounted a counter-attack of their own and ran 100m for a try by replacement Genaro Fessia that broke Romanian hearts.

Romania captain Marius Tincu, whose team lost to Scotland a week earlier, said after the match: "It was tough today because it's harder when you play the big teams every game.

"Our boys tried to defend and do the same things as in the last game but it was harder."

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