Los Pumas 7s beat South Africa 19-14 in Dubai Sevens | OneFootball

Los 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 AM.

Additionally, the national team achieved their first win in the tournament. Although they concluded the initial phase on the brink of elimination, they salvaged the opportunity to secure a fifth-place finish in the tournament.

During the first part of the match, they entered the field with an imposing 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 compelled to bounce back.

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 with 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 at 12-12 just one minute before the end of the match. Additionally, Zander Reynders led the attack and scored. With an effective kick, the BlitzBoks turned the game around and led 14-12, thus frustrating the collective effort of the Argentinians.

However, Juan Patricio Batac spearheaded Argentina's quick response with his run, and Marcos Moneta took charge of the kick, regaining the lead for the Argentinians, who now surpassed their African counterparts 19-14. In this way, the Pumas concluded a nail-biting match.

However, it is important to highlight that they had a very poor 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 later France overwhelmed them with a decisive 59-7, according to what the Argentine News Agency was able to learn.

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

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

Later, in the match against France, Los Pumas had a dismal performance and were unable to put up any resistance at any point against their opponents, 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 play, in addition to seven conversions. Los Pumas, for their part, only scored 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.