Scots race into Cup Final
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:56
A four-try victory over the Argentina Pumas booked Scotland A a place in the Churchill Cup Final, as they posted a 27-24 victory in Kingston, Ontario, on Wednesday.
The Pool A table-toppers followed up their 24-10 opening day victory over Canada in Ottawa by dispatching the wannabe Pumas at Richardson Stadium and booking the spot in the Final in Chicago on June 21.
They will meet either England Saxons or Ireland A, who beat the United States 46-9 on Wednesday, but have a three-day turnaround before facing the Saxons at Fletcher's Field in Toronto on Saturday.
Scotland A reached the 2006 Final in Edmonton before losing to New Zealand Maori and now they have another crack – with a 10-day gap to prepare.
With a place in the Cup Final secured, a delighted head coach, Rob Moffat, said: "First and foremost it was a good win. I thought we played some good rugby and scored four good tries."
Man of the Match Rob Dewey added: "It was a pretty good performance in the first half, but we let it slip away a bit when Argentina came back into the game. The same happened against Canada so it's something we're going to have to rectify for the final."
Argentina ran out for their first game of the tournament, against a Scotland side that already had that win against Canada under its belt, but the intensity and physical nature of the South Americans were there for all to see.
The Scots put Argentina under pressure right from the whistle and Rob Dewey was close to putting them ahead with only six minutes on the clock.
Dewey received the ball as it was spun out wide from a line-out and battered his way through the defence. Despite making good ground, Dewey couldn't stretch over the try-line due to the efforts of the Argentine defence.
Argentina brought themselves back into the game with intelligent use of the boot. Scotland stood firm but in the opening stages, it was still anyone's game.
It was the 16th minute that bore good news for Scotland when wing Andrew Turnbull shot over the line.
As the ball worked its way from left to right, Dewey took on his man and passed to Turnbull behind his back, much to the delight of the ex-pats and neutrals in the stands. David Blair hit the left post with his conversion attempt.
Scotland struck again nine minutes later when Dewey powered over the line. Scotland gave away a penalty for killing the ball in the ruck which Argentina kicked to touch for a line-out. The resulting line-out was stolen by Scotland and Greig Laidlaw unleashed Dewey.
The Ulster centre used his sheer strength to hold off three defenders and his agility to step the last to dive over. Blair converted.
On the half-hour mark, Argentina crept back into the game with poor kicking execution from Scotland and a try from fullback Lucas Barrera Oro. A clearance kick from Jim Thompson was returned by the Pumas, the up-and-under was collected inside the 22 and a simple inside pass was enough to show Oro the line.
Early in the second half, a try brought the Pumas to within two points of the Scots meaning changes in personnel were deemed appropriate by head coach Moffat.
As Colin Gregor took over scrumhalf duties and Gordon Ross returning to the flyhalf slot, Scotland settled back into their stride.
Despite the two new half-backs taking to the field, the game began to lose its tempo before a moment of brilliance from wing Jim Thompson.
Gordon Ross changed the direction of play and gave the ball to Jones who hit a gap in midfield. Jones then off-loaded to Thompson who chipped over the head of his opposite man and collected to go over from almost 40 metres out. Ross added the two extra points.
Scotland then struggled to break the line and string together a period of clinical passing. Colin Gregor chose to take the game into his own hands and burst out from behind the ruck to dart over the line.
In the final 10 minutes, Scotland finished as they did against Canada by conceding a soft try. A pile of bodies belonging to the Argentine pack rumbled towards the posts and crumbled over the line for a consolation score.
Man of the Match: It simply has to be Rob Dewey, Scotland A.
Scorers:
Scotland A:
Tries: Turnbull, Dewey, Thompson, Gregor
Cons: Blair, Ross
Pen: Gordon Ross
Argentina:
Tries: Oro, Comacho, Lagarrique, Comuzzi
Cons: Mieres 2
Teams:
Scotland A: 15 Steve Jones, 14 Andrew Turnbull, 13 Rob Dewey, 12 Calum MacRae, 11 Jim Thompson, 10 David Blair, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Stevie Swindall, 7 Alan MacDonald, 6 Scott Newlands, 5 Dan Turner, 4 Fergus Pringle, 3 David Young, 2 Fergus Thomson
(captain), 1 Ed Kalman.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Tommy McGee, 18 James Eddie, 19 Jon Dunbar, 20 Colin Gregor, 21 Gordon Ross, 22 Matt Dey.
Argentina Pumas: 15 Lucas Barrera Oro, 14 Mauro Comuzzi, 13 Juan Gauthier, 12 Gabriel Ascarate, 11 Gonzalo Comacho, 10 Ignacia Mieres, 9 Francisco Albarracin, 8 Alejandro Abadíe, 7 Federico Genoud, 6 Agustín Creevy, 5 Carlos Cáceres, 4 Felipe Aranguren, 3 Juan Pablo Orlando, 2 Rodrigo María, 1 Felipe Bettolli.
Replacements: 16 Daniel Rodriguez, 17 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 18 Juan Pablo Lagarrique, 19 Leonardo Senatore, 20 Lucio Lopez Fleming, 21 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 22 Federico Amelong.
Referee: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Touch judges: Rob Debney (England), Derek Stolz (Canada)
