Los Pumas lost 31-24 to England despite a stirring late fightback | OneFootball

The Argentina national rugby team, Los Pumas, lost 31-24 to England at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero, in a match corresponding to the third round of the opening phase of the Nations Championship. With this setback against the British side, the team led by Felipe Contepomi wrapped up its run of home matches at this stage of the international tournament, after previously recording an opening defeat to Scotland and a victory over Wales in the province of San Juan.

The match was loaded with symbolism even before kickoff, as the Argentine squad took the field wearing a limited-edition jersey that replicated the historic kit used by the national football team in its victory over England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. However, the game proved extremely difficult for the home side. England went into halftime with a 19-3 lead, striking early with tries from Tommy Freeman in the opening minute and from Ben Earl in the 15th and 33rd minutes, while Tomás Albornoz scored the hosts’ only points of the half with a penalty in the 29th minute. Fin Smith added three conversions in the match.

The second half turned into a physical battle marked by indiscipline on both sides. After the break, England extended its lead with tries from Marcus Smith and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. Los Pumas pushed back with grit and cut the deficit through scores by Mateo Carreras early in the second half, a penalty try in the 50th minute, and a late contribution from Justo Piccardo in the 79th minute, along with two conversions from Albornoz. The match ended with multiple bookings: Mateo Carreras, Joaquín Oviedo and Santiago Carreras were shown yellow cards for Argentina, while Jack van Poortvliet and Emmanuel Iyogun were penalized for the visitors, leaving the British side with 13 men in the closing minutes.

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