Los Pumas 7s Kick Off London Tournament with Impressive Win over Japan in Bid for Paris 2024 Olympics

The Argentine rugby sevens team, Los Pumas 7s, already qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, today beat Japan 43-12 (PT 12-12), in Group B, debuting in the London tournament, eleventh and last stage of the World Rugby Circuit organized by World Rugby (WR).

The team led by Santiago Gómez Cora, bronze medalist in Tokyo 2020 and already runner-up this season behind New Zealand, will play again at 9:53 in our country against Fiji and then at 13:35 against Ireland.

The goals for Argentina were achieved with tries by Rodrigo Isgro, Santiago Alvarez, Tomás Elizalde, Alejo Lavayén and Marcos Moneta, with two tries and a conversion by Luciano González, two conversions by Santiago Vera Feld and another by Joaquín Pellandini.

The team led by Santiago Gómez Cora formed in Twickenham with Alvarez, Germán Schulz, Mateo Graziano, Gastón Revol, Isgro, Vera Feld and Agustín Fraga. Then L. González, Moneta, Elizalde, Lavayén and Pellandini entered.

This last stage is very important since the fourth and last place for the Paris 2024 Games will be defined, which will be decided between Australia with 125 points and South Africa and Samoa, with 116 each.

The Sevens in London presents the peculiarity that it is played with 12 teams in three zones of four teams, with the first two in each zone and the two best third-placed advancing to the quarterfinals.

In London there is a fourth group of four teams that play the playoffs to stay on the WR circuit in 2024, made up of Uruguay, Kenya, Canada and Tonga.

In that group they play all against all and the first two will play the final, whose winner will continue on the circuit.

The Argentine team played 16 finals in the Sevens history, which has been held since 1999: they lost 12 and won four gold medals in the editions of Hamilton 2023, Vancouver 2022, San Diego 2009 and Los Angeles 2004.