Argentina U20 open their account with 13-29 win over Scotland

Scotland U20 13-29 Argentina U20, Stade Aime-Giral, Perpignan
Scorecard

Argentina managed to open their account in the ongoing World Rugby U20 Championship after securing a bonus point victory over Scotland in Perpignan on Sunday.

The win has taken Argentina to the second position in Pool B while Scotland languish at the bottom after losing both the games.

Argentina made impact straightaway after the kick-off with fly-half Juan Bautista Daireaux offloading to Juan Pablo Castro in the first minute to score the opening try. Daireaux also slotted the extras as they scored seven unanswered points.

Even though Scotland tried to break free, it was Argentina, who increased their lead to 12 points when winger Leopoldo Herrera touched down at the end of the first quarter. Scotland finally responded in the 26th minute when Callum McLelland dotted down that was improved by Charlie Chapman to reduce the arrears to five points.

However, Scotland's momentum dented when Jamie Hodgson was sin-binned in the 38th minute for collapsing a maul and Bautista Daireaux kicked another penalty goal to end the first half with a 7-15 lead for Argentina.

Despite being one man down, Scotland managed to reduce the gap to just two points with back to back penalty kicks from Chapman coming in the 43rd and 49th minutes and the game remained in a deadlock until the final 10 minutes when Mateo Carreras dived from close range to provide Argentina a breather as their lead increased to nine points and a penalty try in the final minute saw them complete a 13-29 victory.

Scotland captain Stafford McDowall said: “I think we gave ourselves a chance with around 15-20 minutes to go, but we just couldn’t keep hold of the ball and that’s what cost us. Argentina got two breakaway tries at the end there.”

Argentina captain Joaquin de la Vega said: “It was a really tough game but a good win so we are very, very happy. We have to celebrate today’s win and then tomorrow we'll start thinking about Italy. It will be a tough, physical game.”