Late Argentina try knocks Scottish hopes
Argentina’s Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino broke Scottish hearts Sunday
with a dramatic late try as the Pumas moved towards the World Cup
quarter-finals with a nail-biting 13-12 victory. With seven minutes
remaining, Amorosino stepped off the right wing and jinked past four
defenders for the game’s only try, before captain Felipe Contepomi
showed nerves of ice to kick the decisive conversion.
It was a cruel defeat for Scotland, who led 6-3 at half-time and then
kicked two drop goals through Ruaridh Jackson and Dan Parks to be 12-6
ahead before Amorosino’s well-taken score.
Scotland coach Andy Robinson said his team were “absolutely
devastated” by the result, which leaves them level on points with
Argentina but facing a final Pool B game against England, while the
Pumas take on minnows Georgia.
“It’s one lapse, 30 seconds of concentration that cost them a Test
match,” he said.
Meanwhile Ireland walloped Russia 62-12 to stay in charge of Pool C,
while Samoa sank Pacific rival Fiji’s hopes with a 27-7 win in Auckland
as the third weekend of action wrapped up.
In Rotorua, second-string Ireland ran nine tries past Russia in an
exhilarating work-out before next week’s showdown with Six Nations
rivals Italy. The Irish will lock up Pool C with victory over Italy in
Dunedin next Sunday, after shocking Australia in the tournament’s
biggest upset so far.
“We always knew that the Italy game was going to be the vital game
for us to try and get out of the group,” Ireland coach Declan Kidney
said.
“The fact that we find ourselves in a winner-take-all situation...
next Sunday it’s just like a Cup final.” Samoa pounded Fiji’s dreams to
dust in Auckland which earned them a shot at the quarter-finals in their
final pool game against champions South Africa.
Fly-half Tusi Pisi kicked Samoa to a 12-0 lead in an attritional
first half before they outscored Fiji two tries to one in the second
period to dash their arch-rivals’ hopes of a second successive place in
the last eight.
The match was played against the colourful backdrop of 60,327 fans,
mostly members of Auckland’s expatriate Pacific community, but wet
conditions hampered free-running Fiji who slumped to their second loss
in the “Pool of Death”.
AFP |