The Pumas, historical: the seven got the bronze in Tokyo 2020

07/28/2021 7:14 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 07/28/2021 7:20 AM

The Pumas wrote a page in the history of rugby in Tokyo 2020. After that elimination in the quarterfinals in Rio 2016 against Great Britain, in Tokyo 2020

they became bronze

by beating that rival 17-12 in the painful defeat.

It was a smart performance by a mental team that never lost the game plan despite the fatigue that the semifinal had demanded against Fiji, a world power that beat them 26-14 despite Argentina's advantage at halftime.

But against Fiji, five hours before this match for the Olympic podium, the Argentines had run out of physique in the complement, which relegated them to playing

for the bronze medal

against Great Britain.

This time, the story was different.

Although it had not started well because at the start Ben Harris reached the Argentine ingoal and Great Britain was 5-0 up.

But the reaction of Los Pumas, who raised the same team in the semifinal, was not long in coming.

Lautaro Bazán Vera escaped on the left and tied the game, while before the end of the first half Marcos Moneta reappeared for his sixth try.

This time, the Argentine striker stepped on and faked on the right to outwit the British defense and support the second try for Santiago Gómez Cora's team.

The difference, this time, was widened by Mare's conversion and the selected one went to rest 12-5.

With the boys' tries that were silver and gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing and Buenos Aires, respectively, Argentina took a necessary advantage but took a risk in the second half.

Is that Great Britain recovered a ball inches from the ingoal and Ollie Lindsay Hague scored the try that equalized the score

But again Cougar courage and self-love appeared.

The answer was an Ignacio Mendy escaping from Alex Davis to run down the left wing and sentence the 17-12 to two minutes from the end that gave him the bronze to rugby seven and the first medal to the Argentine delegation.

#Rugby The Pumas 7s made history!

🏉

They achieved the first medal for the Argentine delegation in Tokyo 2020 by defeating Great Britain 17-12, in the match for the bronze medal.

🙌🏻🥉

Argentine pride!

💪🏻🇦🇷💙 # EquipoARG #VamosArgentina # ArgentinaEnTokio2020 pic.twitter.com/8cEZHBVRkG

- ARG Olympic Committee (@PrensaCOA) July 28, 2021

"We went through very ugly things, we went through many things to be here. It cannot be put into words, the immense joy cannot be described," said Santiago Álvarez on TyC Sports moments after the victory.

The captain of Los Pumas 7, surviving that fall in the quarterfinals of Rio de Janeiro 2016, when the United Kingdom won 5-0 in overtime and eliminated the Albicelestes, remarked: "The medal belongs to everyone. No We play to win, we play for the one next door, for the one who is not there, for Negro (Gastón Revol, who has three games left on suspension), for Tute (Matías Osadczuk, who tore his ligaments), for Franco ( Sábato, reserve in Tokyo) and the players who stayed in Argentina.

"I feel blessed. Fulfilling a dream and doing what one loves is not easy. I have not slept or enjoyed myself for three days. Now I am happy. There is a lot of suffering and a lot of work in these boys, that's why they get excited. These boys were a year locked up so as not to get infected. But they wanted this and when you want something, you get it ", summed up coach Santiago Gómez Cora, the father of the child who won a medal in Tokyo.

Everyday I love you more!

#VamosArgentina 🥉 #SeVenComoNunca #rugby # Tokyo2020 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/tB7VAxTTfM

- Los Pumas 7s (@ lospumas7arg) July 28, 2021

A tough but logical defeat against Fiji

The team led by

Santiago Gómez Cora

showed good intentions but was overtaken by a weight rival who is coming to be Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and who revalidated the title in Tokyo, by winning the duel for the gold medal against New Zealand by 27-12.

In the previous one, it was known that Fiji was a rival that could do a lot of damage when it had the ball and the game plan of Los Pumas 7 was to

try to get it out and control its dynamics.

Los Pumas 7 captain Santiago Álvarez Fourcade tries to evade Josua Vakurunabili's mark.

AFP photo

During some sections of the first half the national team succeeded and in others they did not, but they also managed to go to rest 14-12 up thanks to the tries of

Marcos Moneta

, one of the tournament's sensation players, and

Ignacio Mendy

 who scored on time. complimented while playing "De Música Ligera" on the stadium speakers. 

Already in the complement Los Pumas tried to do damage, but in the only dangerous play that they generated near the rival ingoal, the referee charged them a

penalty for offside.

A couple of plays later the Fijians capitalized on a good counter attack that

Wainiqolo

converted into a try under the hatchet and converted

Tuwai

to go forward 19-14.

Fiji was too much for Los Pumas, who were left without legs in the complement.

AFP photo

At that time, the national team looked

lacking in rhythm and with great physical fatigue as a 

result of the wear and tear it made in the previous games of the tournament.

A later error in a line allowed Fiji to end up liquidating the shares through a world-class player such as

Semi Radradra

, who at sheer power scored the last try of the match, also converted by Tuwai.

Despite the defeat, Los Pumas had little time to mourn because they

still had a chance to fight for a medal

 against an opponent who had just lost in the other semifinal against New Zealand 29-7.

And they do it like that.

AANNKARA MONETA!

TRY Marcos Moneta

🇦🇷12-7🇫🇯 # tokyo2020 #HowWeSevens pic.twitter.com/AIm9C40o1p

- World Rugby ES (@WorldRugby_ES) July 28, 2021

Look also

Tokyo 2020: what is rugby 7, the modality in which Los Pumas gave the first medal to Argentina

The party of Luka Doncic and the Slovenian national team with alcohol and without protocols in the Olympic Village