SAN SALVADOR DE JUJUY, Argentina (AP) Argentina ended a five-match losing run by beating Georgia 45-29 in a one-off rugby test on Saturday.
Left winger Ramiro Moyano redeemed himself for a yellow card in the first half by scoring a hat trick of tries to boost the Pumas from 26-8 up at halftime to 45-15 before the end of the third quarter.
Georgia scored two more converted tries after considerable pressure to cut the margin, but fell to a fifth defeat in five matches against the Pumas, three of them at Rugby World Cups.
Even after Moyano was sin-binned for a reckless aerial challenge, Argentina added two more penalty kicks and kept Georgia from scoring.
Only after Georgia lock Giorgi Nemsadze was sin-binned did his team finally buckle, as the Pumas crossed through captain Agustin Creevy and fullback Joaquin Tuculet. Flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez finished the stop-start half kicking 16 of his 20 points.
Moyano, one of six changes after the home two-test series loss to England, began his hat trick with an interception try.
Georgia, coming off wins over Canada and the United States, fought back with a penalty try and late scores for replacements, first for back Soso Matiashvili and then forward Shalva Mamukashvili, to cap their highest score against the Pumas.
