Shock victory, Porta shines
NZPA-Reuter Buenos Aires
A superb performance by the captain, Hugo Porta, inspired the Argentine Pumas rugby side to a shock 24-16 victory over France in the first test yesterday.
Porta scored 16 of his team’s points with three penalties, a drop goal and two conversions. He also created Argentina’s second try, scored by the centre, Fabian Turnes, in the thirtyseventh minute.
France, 15-6 down at halftime, fought back after the break and tries by the full back, Serge Blanco, and right wing, Jean Baptiste Lafond, put them within two points of a draw with less than 10 minutes remaining in their fifth tour match.
But the five-eighths, Jean Patrick Lescarboura, missed the second conversion, Porta added two penalties and the French failed to breach the strong Pumas defence again, falling to their first defeat this year and their first in 18 matches with Argentina. The key to Argentina’s victory came from their superb marking, breaking down France’s renowned quick passing game. They also gained more possession, especially from the line-outs where Ernesto Ure, Eliseo Branca and Gustavo Milano invariably outjumped their opposite numbers. France was the outright favourite to beat the Pumas after finishing unbeaten runners-up in the Five Nations tournament and winning their first four tour matches with ease. But the brilliant Porta, who opened the scoring with a drop goal in the sixth minute, had the right answer to all France’s attacking moves in a display of great skill and tactics. Lescarboura replied with a tenth minute penalty but in the nineteenth minute Ure touched down after a five-metre scrum, Porta converting the try to the joy of a capacity 35,000 crowd.
Lescarboura reduced the arrears with another penalty in the twenty-first minute but three minutes before half-time Porta received the ball from the half-back, Javier Miguens, and placed a perfect kick high above the in-goal where Turnes was quicker to pounce than the French defence.
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Press, 24 June 1985, Page 23
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322Shock victory, Porta shines Press, 24 June 1985, Page 23
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