Argentina scored eight tries in a 59-5 bonus-point win over a spirited Chile in Nantes, setting up a crunch Pool D fixture against Japan next week for a quarter-final spot.
The fly-half Nicolás Sánchez opened the scoring in his 100th Test match with a fine individual try, before Juan Martín González and the veteran hooker Agustín Creevy rolled over the line on the back of mauls as Argentina took charge of the first ever all-South American Rugby World Cup contest.
Rodrigo Isgro was shown a yellow card before the interval for a high tackle on the Chile fly-half, Rodrigo Fernández, but Argentina saw out the half without conceding and took a 24-0 lead into the break. The full-back Martín Bogado added a fourth try soon after the restart, his mazy run securing a bonus point for the Pumas.
Chile, beaten 71-0 by England last Saturday, thought they had ended their long wait for a try when Augusto Bohme went over after a crafty move at a lineout, but it was disallowed for a forward pass. Isgro then atoned for his yellow card with a score before González added his second after a fluid attacking move to make it 45-0.
The underdogs kept pushing forward and got a deserved try to delight their watching fans in Nantes, with the replacement hooker, Tomas Dussaillant, scoring seven minutes from time. Argentina responded immediately, with Ignacio Ruíz powering over after more dominant play from their forwards.
Sánchez, who scored 20 points in a man-of-the-match display, was then replaced by Santiago Carreras, who went over for an eighth try after a smart offload from Bogado. Chile depart their first World Cup with four defeats, conceding 215 points, but won many admirers with their attacking approach and team spirit.
Argentina join Japan on 10 points, second in the pool on goal difference – and the two teams will meet in a winner-takes-all clash next Sunday in Nantes to decide who will join England in the quarter-finals.
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“The intensity was good, there were times we got a bit carried away,” said the Argentina head coach, Michael Cheika. “We respected the opposition a lot, and did a lot of things well that we were trying to improve. There were moments where we were under pressure, and we forced errors.
“Japan are a great team – they were quarter-finalists last time [in 2019] and we weren’t. We’ll take a couple of days off, and get ready for a great game next week.”
