Argentinians still unbeaten

Press, 14 March 1985, Page 44

Argentinians still unbeaten

A strong performance into the wind in the first half enabled the University of Buenos Aires touring rugby team to score a solid, if unspectacular, 17-4 win over a High School Old Boys selection at Rugby Park yesterday.

It was the team’s fifth win in as many matches on its New Zealand tour. Buenos Aires held Old Boys to 4-4 at half-time, and 13 points in the second half from the Puma half-back, Javier Miguens, secured the victory.

Miguens was very much

the general of the Buenos Aires side, and a strong runner around the fringes of the pack. His first try, from a ruck close to the line, was the cheekiest of solo efforts.

On the left wing, Pedro Lanza, a Puma B player, showed plenty of dash from broken play. Carlos Benitez Cruz, a Puma understudy to Hugo Porta, had a relatively quiet game, but on occasions showed flashes of the skill that has him ranked so highly.

The Buenos Aires forwards competed fiercely in the line-outs, which soon

became an area of tension. Outstanding here was Sebastian Miguens, a tall flanker, who roved in the line-outs to good effect, making a fine fist at times of countering the towering presence of Old Boys’ Don Symon. Old Boys made several changes at half-time, and for them the match was in the nature of a pre-season shake-down. If there was one aspect of play that gave cause for comfort at this early stage, it was the quality of the rucking, in the first half especially. Displaying excellent tech-

nique, the Old Boys forwards delivered a wealth of second phase ball which was dispatched with alacrity in the first half by Jeremy Sprott and later by Richard Leggat. There was encouragement in the contribution to the rucks and mauls of the bulky Rob Mclntosh, who played the full game. In the backs, James Leggat and Glen Wisker had their moments on attack, but promising movements were stifled quickly by the swiftly-advancing visitors.

Michael Reeves performed usefully at full-back. The “player of the day” awards, selected by Mr Neil McPhail, went to Javier Miguens and Simon Brown, the later appearing at first five-eighths for Old Boys in the first half when he did his utmost to set the backline moving. For University of Buenos Aires, Manuel Loza scored a try, Javier Miguens adding two tries, a conversion and a penalty goal. For High School Old Boys, Alex McPhail scored a try.