Pumas give Romania the runaround

Argentina bounced back from their narrow defeat to England by running in four tries for a 26-8 half-time lead in their Pool B clash with Romania.

The Pumas declared their attacking intent early, mounting repeated raids into opposition territory on a bright but breezy afternoon at Rugby Park Stadium.

Santiago Fernández, starting at fly half instead of injured skipper Felipe Contepomi, sliced through some slack defending in the fifth minute for a try near the posts which Martín Rodríguez converted.

Four minutes later flanker Juan Manuel Leguizamón juggled a pass on the 22m line before gathering and barging over the line.

The big Romanian forwards tried to wrestle some control over the game and Tiberius Ionut Dimofte narrowed the gap to 14-3 with a penalty after 13 minutes.

But prop Juan Figallo registered Argentina's third try with just a quarter of the game gone after a quick tapped penalty by scrum half Nicolás Vergallo.

Enterprising full back Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino exploited more holes in the Romania defence to touch down under the posts before The Oaks responded with a try out wide on the left by wing Ionel Cazan in 32nd minute.