28 August 2019
The final games in what was a fantastic tour against St Matthew’s School, Buenos Aires.
A team match report:
Going into the final match of the tour there were many tired bodies, however spirits were high and the boys continued to show excellent character, as they have all tour. Unfortunately the rule of uncontested scrums took away a large part of our armoury and made it very difficult to get a solid platform. Subsequently we were 12-0 down at half time. However after some direct carriers and a strong driving maul Abingdon scored their first try of the game in the second half making it 15-5. The score remained the same until the final whistle, which saw the end to a very stop start game. Although it wasn’t the way we wanted to end the tour huge credit must go to the boys who have played some great rugby and showed excellent heart throughout a very challenging tour.
Huge progress with a very promising season ahead as the tour showed the depth we now have and the standard we can play. Without doubt the 70 point turnaround against Craighouse was the highlight!
B team match report:
Arriving at St Matthew's for the last game of the tour, the Abingdon B XV were battle worn but ready for a final swan song to what has been an amazing trip.
It was a strange game though – Argentinian school rules meant that scrums were uncontested, which made for a very scrappy game. Despite this we attacked with precision and aggression in the first quarter to take a lead, only to see St Matthew's come back at us with some sharp lines: 12-7 to Abingdon at halftime.
The second half remained equally tight, but with frustrations creeping in on both sides, it was St Matthew's who took the lead. Try as we might, we struggled to get our phase play together and both sides became more and more fractious. The game finished with some valiant defence on our line to keep the Argentines out, but the score ended 19-12 to St Matthew's. Another valiant team performance, albeit the result was disappointing. It will have been the last game of rugby for Abingdon for a couple of our rowers, so it was great to see them put in particularly strong performances.
