Unstoppable and devastating. This is the incipient start of the San Isidro club in the current Top 12. With a simple recipe, full of practicality and a good dose of forcefulness, defeated Newman 35 to 12 and is, for now, the only leader of the URBA’s top tournament. Although there are only two dates, by names, by game, by the forms of his triumphs and the quality of his losers, he seems determined to revalidate his status as reigning champion.
As demonstrated in the debut against the willing Atlético del Rosario, this Saturday against Newman the Boulogne team once again made it clear that they are an almost perfect machine, that wins and plays well. But, above all, it was a complete example of functionalism, of surprising and pleasant team actions. Forceful in his attacking line, solid in defensive coverage. “We were very good in defense, we were disciplined and intense without them being able to score. “We achieved a great success,” analyzed three-quarter Zanjero Andrea Panzarini.
Newman was unstable in his performance, as had not happened in a long time, and was far from repeating what was done seven days ago against CUBA. He had a lot of volume in the game, but the vertigo that his powerful backs offered led him to make some handling errors and make some wrong decisions in the hot zone, for which he ended up paying with points against him. The beauty of his pack and the two tries by Agustín Gosio and Santiago Marolda were of no use. Unlike the first day in Villa de Mayo, he produced a lot and capitalized little.
“We had a very good first half, but the try they gave us at the end cost us dearly. That unfocused us in the second half, we lost the battles in the forwards, the fixed formations and from there the SIC became strong. We began to lose a lot of balls and committed several indisciplines that resulted in points,” he analyzed, post-defeat, Agustín Gosiowho preferred not to make excuses for the weather factor and to be self-critical.
The spectacular try that Santiago Pavlovsky started and ended
The partial score of 17 to 5 in the first half in favor of SIC was very consistent with the development of those 40 minutes. The locals managed to impose the will to move forward with great order, prevailing in the mobile formations and making the most of the visitor’s management errors. Only four minutes was enough for him to make a maul try from Chiappe and set the trend of the match. Because Newman, despite having possession on the field, had a hard time breaking through the strong local defense and was not fine in the final meters. In fact, when he had managed to score through Agustín Gosio and was determined to turn the result around, Santiago Pavlovskywas in charge of giving him the final blow with a magnificent try from ingoal to ingoal.
“It was a try from the whole court, from the whole team. When I received the ball I hesitated between kicking to gain meters or starting to run. It was risky, but luckily I was able to sneak in, gain several meters and score, after Jacinto (Campbell) gave me a great pass without looking at the exit of a short runk,” said Pavlovsky, once the game was over without being able to believe the extraordinary and well-founded score that he had marked. Without a doubt, that try marked a turning point in the game.
In the second stage, Zanjero adjusted some details and came out determined to win. The forwards, led by Andreas Panzarini, unstoppable in his starts, and Nicanor Acosta, of great participation in the loose – several times he appeared on the forward line and intercepted key balls –, set the team’s pace. As a reflection of that pressure, SIC scored an 18-0 run and practically sealed the story 10 minutes before the end. Marolda’s try for Newman, at 39 minutes, only served to decorate the result 35 to 12 in favor of the local team.
That the San Isidro Club has started the Top 12 as it did is not surprising. He is the reigning champion and one of the great candidates for the title. Beyond the name changes and the usual losses that it has suffered for some years in the first half of the year, nothing hurts its idea or its leading ambitions. The formula is as simple as it is known: permanent quality replacement.
“It is no coincidence that last year we were champions in first, intermediate and Pre A. This shows that we have quality players to replace the losses,” commented Pavlovsky, the great figure with 20 points, the product of three conversions, three penalties and a try. And there is no lack of reason. In its own right, the SIC is once again a serious candidate.
Compact of the champion’s triumph over the Cardinal
Newman synthesis 12 vs. SIC 35
- Newman: Francisco Pasman; Leandro Leiva, Benjamín Lanfranco, Tomás Keena and Agustín Gosio; Gonzalo Gutiérrez Taboada and Félix Branca; Joaquín De la Vega, Miguel Urtubey and Mateo Montoya A; Alejandro Urtubey (captain) and Tomás Ureta; Bautista Bosch, Marcelo Brandi and Miguel Prince.
- Coaches: Alfredo Cordone, Marcelo Torres and Javier Urtubey.
- Changes: ST, 7 minutes, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar for M. Urtubey and Luciano Borio for Bosch; 28, James Wright for Brandi and Santiago Marolda for Gosio, and 37, Isidro Bosch for Prince.
- SIC: Hyacinth Campbell; Franco Moneta, Carlos Piran (captain), Santos Rubio and Nicanor Acosta; James Pavlovsky and Philip Sascaro; Thomas Meyrelles, Franco Delger and Andrea Panzarini; Thomas Borghi and Baptist Viero; Benjamin Chiappe, Lucas Rocha and Marco Piccinini.
- Coaches: Eduardo Victorica, Patricio Nealon and Gonzalo Longo.
- Substitutions: ST, 8 minutes, Alexander Daireaux for Meyrelles; 24, John Peter Olcese by Chiappe; 29, Ramon Martinez Tomietto by Sascaro, and 31, Pedro Georgalos by Borghi.
- First time: 4 minutes, goal by Pavlovsky for a try by Chiappe (S); 13, try by Gosio (N); 28, penalty by Pavlovsky (S), and 34, goal by Pavlovsky for his own try (S). Partial result: Newman 5 vs. SIC 17.
- Second time: 7 minutes, penalty by Pavlovsky (S); 13, Pavlovsky penalty (S); 25, try by Daireaux (S); 28, Pavlovsky goal by Panzarini’s try (S), and 39, Gutierrez Taboada’s goal by Marolda’s try (N). Cautioned: 11, Montoya (N). Partial result: Newman 7 vs. SIC 18.
- Referee: Damian Schneider
- Basketball court: St. Isidore’s Club (location, Newman).