Argentina took advantage of Mamuka Gorgodze's second-half sin-binning to record a bonus-point 54-9 victory over Georgia in their second match at the Rugby World Cup to all but guarantee themselves a place in the quarter-finals.
Argentina's Juan Martin Hernandez attempts to break free. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Having been beaten 26-16 by the defending champion All Blacks in their opening game, the Pumas had to beat Georgia, who were surprise 17-10 winners over Tonga in their opener, to stay in the race for the knock-out phase.
With two remaining pool games against Tonga and minnows Namibia on October 4 and 11, both in Leicester, Argentina will be favourites to progress alongside the All Blacks into the quarter-finals by cementing themselves the second automatic qualifying spot in Pool C.
Argentina were made to work hard in the first-half, enjoying just a 14-9 lead thanks to nine points from the boot of influential first-five Nicolas Sanchez and Tomas Lavanini's solitary try while Georgian veteran Merab Kvirikashvili kicked three penalties.
But when Georgian skipper Gorgodze was rightly sin-binned in the 45th minute, the South Americans made hay, scoring three converted tries through Tomas Cubelli, Juan Imhoff and Santiago Cordero in the space of six minutes with some wonderful running rugby.
With Georgia flagging, Martin Landajo first scored, and then Cordero and Bosch grabbed their second tries, Marcelo Bosch hitting two conversions as Argentina racked up 40 unanswered points.
