Atletico del Rosario put four clear goals past Champagne in the Top-12 on Friday evening, closing out a 42:22 victory at home. The hosts have now added four points to their tally, moving to 47, while the visitors remain stuck on 15 after another defeat.
And here's the thing — you can see the gap in the numbers without watching the full twenty minutes. Atletico are sitting tenth with nine wins from twenty-five, but they're also accumulating points at a rate that keeps them in the mix. Champagne, meanwhile, have managed three wins all season and are finding the table a difficult place to climb.
To be fair, the recent form tells its own story. Atletico lost their last outing 20:54 to Alumni, but before that they had been competitive — a 41:45 loss to Newman and a narrow 35:33 defeat to Belgrano are two games where the scorelines suggest they were in the match. Champagne's run has been harsher: a 7:22 thrashing by La Plata and a 5:48 loss to Alumni show they're struggling to find rhythm.
By then, the prediction was obvious. We called for the home side with 71 per cent confidence, and that's exactly what happened. Champagne simply didn't have the answers, and Atletico took advantage of the opportunity in front of their own supporters.
The gap between them in the standings is now thirty-two points, and that's a margin that doesn't close quickly. Champagne have twenty-two losses from twenty-five games — if they don't start finding a way to compete, the Top-12 is going to feel very different from here on in.
