Rio de Janeiro, Aug 10 (IANS) Argentina began the Olympic men's rugby sevens competition here with a scrappy 17-14 victory over the US, who enjoyed a man advantage on two separate occasions during the match.
The Argentines controlled the ball in the early going on Tuesday and took the lead with Axel Msller's try and the conversion by Gaston Revol, reports Efe.
The South Americans took that advantage into the break, despite their being down a man toward the end of the first half after Santiago Alvarez picked up a penalty.
Argentina increased the margin to 12-0 with five minutes left thanks to Fernando Luna's disputed knock-on that was ruled a try.
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Seemingly in command, the Argentines got into trouble when a downfield rush by Zack Best's ended with a successful penalty try and conversion and left Argentina minus two men for a full minute.
Danny Barrett exploited the shorthanded situation to score a try and conversion, putting the US ahead 14-12 with just minutes left to play before Matias Moroni pulled out the 17-12 triumph for Argentina.
--IANS
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