Sascaro keeps his cool to win it for Argentina

AGUSTIN Sascaro’s 79th minute penalty led newcomers Argentina to a 24-21 victory over Australia in the opening match of the Oceania Rugby U20s tournament.

The Junior Wallabies had a great chance to settle for a draw in the last kick of the game but chose the decision to go for the line instead of levelling it up and that decision came back to haunt them as Mason Gordon failed to find touch, allowing Argentina to seal the win.

Argentina made a dominant start and were awarded a penalty try before Queensland Reds full-back Mac Grearly latched onto a loose pass from Floyd Aubrey to put the Aussies in front after Mason Gordon had kicked two penalties.

Whilst the Junior Wallabies maintained their lead, the struggle at scrum time continued as Argentina dominated territory.

This led to the second penalty try of the night, with Remsy Lemisio yellow card in the process.

Eliseo Chiavassa scored the easiest of tries under the posts, but the Junior Wallabies were then rewarded for their own dominance with a penalty try as Antonio Elias was yellow-carded for collapsing the maul.

With the scores locked up, replacement Sascaro slotted the match winner before Australia foolishly turned down three points in favour of the critical missed touch finder.

In the opening round’s other match, New Zealand opened their campaign with an 11-try 74-5 victory over Fiji.

Tries from Macca Springer, Nikola Vikena, Noah Hotman, Peter Lakai, Adam Lennox, Wallace Sititi, Jona Rova, Cam Miller, Lucas Cashmore and a brace by George Bell led New Zealand to an emphatic win, with just a solo score by Jope Naseara in reply.

New Zealand’s next assignment is on Tuesday against Argentina, who they beat 40-7 in a fourquarter, 100-minute warm up fixture last weekend, while both winless Australia and Fiji lock horns beforehand.