Worcester Warriors 15 Argentina 21 (From Worcester News)

Worcester Warriors 15 Argentina 21

10:26pm Tuesday 23rd August 2011 in Match Reports By Tom Guest, @tomguestWN #WENsport

REPLACEMENT Sione Tu’ipulotu’s intercepted pass five minutes from time handed Argentina the winning score and denied Worcester Warriors a famous victory tonight.

The Pumas, who open their World Cup campaign next month against England, signed off their preparations with a 21-15 win at Sixways, but there was no disgrace in this defeat for Richard Hill’s men.

Rookie fly-half Joe Carlisle claimed all of Warriors’ points with a composed goal-kicking performance but, ultimately, centre Tu’ipulotu’s faux-pas left the home team on the canvas with no time to recover.

In the opening quarter, Warriors struggled to secure a meaningful amount of possession, but the accurate boot of Carlisle ensured they stayed ahead of the Pumas.

Argentina fly-half Nico Sanchez missed a penalty before giving his side the lead with a successful effort from a similar position on five minutes.

Carlisle levelled with a 45-metre effort and the stand-off gave Warriors the lead when the visitors went off their feet.

Worcester’s back row battled well at the breakdown with the speedy Marcel Garvey, Errie Claassens and Josh Drauniniu dangerous in broken play.

Wing Garvey left the field for treatment after an aerial clash with Pumas’ Juan Imhoff, but replacement Miles Benjamin continued to run hard.

Another good break by Claassens and Alex Grove resulted in Argentina not rolling away and Carlisle extended the advantage to six points.

On 23 minutes, Sanchez pulled back three points after a scrum infringement but, as the half wore on, the hosts saw more of the ball.

They extended their lead to 12-6 through Carlisle after hooker Chris Fortey was illegally felled by Mariano Galarza.

However, Sanchez kept his side in contention with another penalty after Warriors went in at the side, before tempers again began to flare.

Poor tackling handed Argentina the game’s opening try on 53 minutes when Imhoff danced past two players to make it 14-12 to the visitors.

On the hour-mark, Carlisle slotted his fifth penalty to edge Warriors back in front, but the marquee victory was not to be.

Tu’ipulotu floated a loose pass out wide on half-way and it was gathered by Imhoff, who won the race to the line and handed Sanchez a simple conversion to snatch the verdict.

Warriors: Claassens; Garvey (Benjamin 13-23), Grove, Rasmussen (Tu’ipulotu 70), Drauniniu (Benjamin 59); Carlisle (Goode 63), Arr; Mullan (Porter 72), Fortey (Shervington 71), Tomaszczyk (Taumoepeau 41), Percival, Gillies (Jones 53), Best (Betty 70), Abbott (Kvesic 63), Horstmann. Replacement not used: Frost.

Argentina: Amorosino; Borges, Gosio, Ascárate, Imhoff; Sánchez, Figuerola; Ayerza, Creevy, Bustos, Vallejos, Galarza, Campos, Leguizamon, Senatore. Reps: Bordoy, Figallo, Cabello, Carizza, Vergallo, Fernández, Bosch, Camacho, Scelzo.

Attendance: 6,107.