Los Pumas 7s edge South Africa 19-14 in Dubai Rugby Sevens World Series 🏉 | OneFootball

The Pumas 7s defeated South Africa 19-14 in the match corresponding to the last date of Group A of the Dubai Rugby Sevens World Series.

With this surprising victory, the team led by head coach Santiago Gómez Cora secured third place in the initial phase. Thus, they advanced to compete for fifth place, where they will face Spain this Sunday at 4:32 in the morning.

Additionally, the national team achieved its first victory in the tournament. Although they finished the initial phase on the brink of elimination, they salvaged the opportunity to secure a fifth place in the tournament.

During the first half of the match, they entered the field with an impressive attitude that was reflected in the team's collective performance. This was influenced by the last two defeats in the tournament, and the Pumas 7s were forced to lift their heads.

Unexpectedly, with the influence of determination in their eyes, Argentina took a 12-0 lead on the scoreboard and sealed a first half that was etched in history, against an opponent known for its characteristic physical prowess that was overshadowed by the Pumas' attitude.

In the second half of the match, the African team returned to the field with an impressive defensive disposition and completely nullified the attack of Gómez Cora's team.

With a significant offensive performance, South Africa tied the score 12-12 with just one minute left in the match. Additionally, Zander Reynders led the attack and scored. With an effective kick, the BlitzBoks turned the game around and went ahead 14-12, thus frustrating the collective work of the Argentinians.

However, Juan Patricio Batac led the quick Argentine reaction with his run, and Marcos Moneta took charge of the kick, returning the lead to the Argentinians, who now lead 19-14 against their African counterparts. In this way, the Pumas closed a nail-biting match.

However, it is important to highlight that they had a very weak debut in the Rugby Sevens World Series, as they fell to Fiji and France in their matches corresponding to the first two dates of Group A.

The team led by Santiago Gómez Cora first fell 26-19 against Fiji in a tight match, while France later overwhelmed them with a convincing 59-7, according to what the Argentine News Agency was able to learn.

The match against Fiji started in the best possible way for the Pumas, thanks to tries from Santino Zangara and Marcos Moneta, in addition to the conversion by Santiago Vera Feld. However, the end of the first half was a nightmare for the Argentinians due to the three tries by the Oceanians, who are one of the great powers in the category.

In the second half, there was a try on each side, so it was not enough for the Pumas, who ended up falling by only seven points.

Later, in the match against France, the Pumas had a poor performance and could not resist their opponents at any moment, who delighted in try after try.

France, the current Olympic champion in Rugby Sevens, crushed Argentina thanks to the tremendous sum of nine tries scored in just 14 minutes of the match, in addition to seven conversions. The Pumas, for their part, only managed one try through Santiago Vera Feld, who also handled the conversion.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.