Argentina are back in the quarterfinal hunt at the Rugby World Cup after smashing African minnows Namibia 67-14 in a Pool A match in Gosford, Australia, on Tuesday.
The Pumas, who fielded their second-string team after a dismal first-up loss to Australia last Friday, were far too strong for the mismatched Namibian amateurs, who were blown away by Argentina’s unstoppable forward pack.
Argentina, who monopolised 60% of possession and spent a total of nine minutes in their opponent’s quarter, locked up a scoring bonus point in the 35th minute, led 27-7 at halftime and powered away in the second half to finish with 10 tries.
Such was their forward supremacy that they scored two push-over tries to number eight Pablo Bouza and were awarded two penalty tries as the Namibians tried everything in their means to stop the relentless forward drives.
Fly-half Gonzalo Quesada, passed over for Felipe Contepomi in last week’s tournament opener, finished with 17 points from seven conversions and a penalty, and was an assured link with the backs.
Centre Martin Gaitan had a picnic scoring a hat-trick of tries as the backs capitalised on the forwards’ dominance.
”We got back to basics,” said Argentine skipper Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, referring to the South Americans’ powerful forward play. ”Now we must first focus on the Romania game before think of Ireland.”
Namibia coach Dave Waterston said his side had tried to take on the South Americans up front and it had not worked.
”But you have to take your hats off to the boys. We are the the last amateur side in the world.”
Cheered on by the supportive 18 000 crowd, Namibia plugging away but on the evidence of Tuesday’s game looked well out of their depth at World Cup level.
Argentina have Romania next in their pool on October 22 in Sydney, while the Namibians have a daunting challenge against Ireland in Sydney on Sunday.
The Pumas controlled large chunks of the opening half through their imposing forwards.
Veteran hooker Federico Mendez caught the Namibians off-guard in only the fourth minute when he darted down the blindside close to their line to score the opening try.
The Pumas were dominating territory and they came up with their first push-over try to number eight Bouza midway through the halfway for a 10-0 lead.
The Namibians were under immense pressure from the Argentine forwards and they had three players sent to the blood bin in the first half-hour — winger Melrick Africa, fly-half Emile Wessels and lock Eben Isaacs. All returned to the field.
Quesada, back at number 10 after missing out on the tournament opener, showed great skill when he got his arms free in a tackle to send centre Juan Fernandez Miranda over for an easy try in the 31st minute.
The other centre, Gaitan, was held up by the Namibian defence minutes later but the Pumas were relentless and another attempt at a push-over try resulted in a penalty try awarded by Welsh referee Nigel Williams after the Namibians collapsed the rolling scrum.
That gave Argentina a bonus point five minutes before halftime, such was their dominance over the outclassed Africans.
But the Namibians brought the sympathetic crowd to their feet when centre Dupreez Grobler weaved his way through close to the line to score his team’s first points right on halftime. Wessels converted to trail 27-7.
The Argentines tightened the screws in the second half and Gaitan scored his first of three tries after quick hands in the
45th minute.
The Pumas were awarded their second penalty try of the match when the Namibians were unable to stop their bulldozing rivals.
Gaitan picked up his second try in the 54th minute, with Quesada landing a great conversion from the sideline under immense barracking from the pro-Namibian supporters.
Miranda scored on the hour for a burgeoning 55-7 lead before Namibian scrumhalf Hakkies Husselman scored his team’s second try with 12 minutes left.
But there was still time for two more Argentine tries — Bouza from a push-over and Gaitan winning the race after a Quesada grubber-kick in-goal. — Sapa-AFP