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CANADA 29 - 38 URUGUAY
(RWC2019 Qualifier)
BC Place, Vancouver - Friday 27 January 2018
KO: 17:00 HT: 21-17
CANADA dropped the first leg of the 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifying series 38-29 to Uruguay on Saturday afternoon at BC Place.
The away team was too good on the day as they ran in five tries from all over the park. A combination of physical play upfront and slick handling at the back lead to the majority of tries being scored out wide for the South Americans.
After silencing the home crowd in the opening minute of the game, Canada fought back and looked to be in control after tries from local favourite Evan Olmstead and try-scoring-machine DTH van der Merwe. The score 17-7.
The lead, however, did not last long as Uruguay bounced back with tries of their own through winger Leandro Leivas, before dangerous scrumhalf Santiago Arata broke around the ruck and darted through the gap to dive under the poles. Uruguay went into the break with a 21-17 lead.
Canada came out of the blocks firing in the second half, and a driving maul from a lineout resulted in the referee awarding a penalty try to the men in red. The Uruguay hooker Germán Kessler was sent to the sin bin as a result of the professional foul.
The trend of the game continued as more holes opened in the Canadian defence and Uruguay capitalised with two tries from their lock pairing Ignacio Dotti and Rodrigo Capó Ortega. Uruguay now led 35-24.
With support from the crowd, Canada fought valiantly until the end and although Nick Blevins scored a superb try in the corner, it was not enough as Uruguay slotted a late penalty to win the first leg of the series opener 39-24.
CANADA: 1 Hubert Buydens 2 Ray Barkwill 3 Jake Ilnicki 4 Brett Beukeboom 5 Josh Larsen 6 Evan Olmstead 7 Matt Heaton 8 Tyler Ardron 9 PHIL MACK (C) 10 Connor Braid 11 DTH van der Merwe 12 Nick Blevins 13 Ben LeSage 14 Jeff Hassler 15 Taylor Paris BENCH: 16 Benoît Pifféro 17 Djustice Sears-Duru 18 Cole Keith 19 Admir Cejvanovic 20 Lucas Rumball 21 Gordon McRorie 22 Patrick Parfrey 23 Brock Staller
SCORERS T: Olmstead, van der Merwe, PT, Blevins C: Braid (2) P: Braid
URUGUAY: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Germán Kessler 3 Mario Sagario 4 Ignacio Dotti 5 Rodrigo Capó Ortega 6 JUAN MANUEL GAMINARA (C) 7 Franco Lamanna 8 Alejandro Nieto 9 Santiago Arata 10 Felipe Berchesi 11 Nicolás Freitas 12 Andrés Vilaseca 13 Juan Manuel Cat 14 Leandro Leivas 15 Rodrigo Silva BENCH: 16 Carlos Pombo 17 Matías Benítez 18 Juan Echeverría 19 Manuel Leindekar 20 Rodolfo Garese 21 Agustín Ormaechea 22 Gastón Mieres 23 Joaquín Prada
SCORERS T: Silva, Leivas, Arata, Dotti, Capó Ortega C: Berchesi (5) P: Berchesi YC Kessler
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
CHILE 14 - 16 BRAZIL
Estadio Municipal de La Pintana, Santiago - Saturday 03 February 2018
KO: 15:10 HT: 7-10
BRAZIL claimed a hard-fought win over Chile, the 16-14 win got their Americas Rugby Championship campaign to an ideal start. It also marks Brazil’s first away win in ARC history and a historic first ever win over Los Cóndores in Chile.
In the early goings Brazil had the better of play. Up-and-under kicks from Josh Reeves had Chile forced deep on several occasions. Combined with using the width of the park it was a promising opening to the match from Os Tupis.
But when one of his kicks was well picked-off Chile counter attacked though fullback Tomás Ianiszewski. He stepped and kicked through to chase the bounce with Brazil having no defence. Reeves challenged Ianiszewski illegally, knocking him to the ground. Chile were awarded a penalty try, going 7-0 ahead.
Reeves scored next, opening Brazil’s account. He did so via a long-range penalty. Yet with him having been the guilty party in the penalty try, the Chileans had reason to feel unhappy with referee Pablo Deluca. Brazil winning the territory battle through Reeves. A patient effort paid-off as Brazil worked their way forward eventually scoring their opening try. Following Moises Duque going within inches of scoring a simple pick-and-go saw Jardel Vettorado diving over. Reeves added the conversion to put Brazil 10-7 ahead. The scoreline would remain until the second half.
The narrow lead would be expanded upon in the 45th minute. Smart play in the early minutes of the second half saw the Brazilians into the Chilean 22. Repeated infringes gave Reeves an opportunity to land a penalty.
Chile, meanwhile, were not helping themselves as three kicks in quick time went out on the full. They were also causing themselves problems in general play. In looking to overcome the deficit the were guilty of taking many risks and being forced into extended periods of defending.
With Los Cóndores unable to get out of their own half penalties were frequent. Reeves was off target with a 57th minute kick at goal. He, nonetheless, made up for it in the 61t minute to put Os Tupis 9 points ahead.
Chile’s problems continued from the restart. The kick-off went out on the full. Brazil momentarily switched-off and Chile pounced. A break from one replacement set-up a try for another. Beltrán Vergara darted through and around defenders, off-loading to Nicolás Garafulic who scored on debut. Ianiszewski continued his fine performance by landing the conversion.
The score saw the game swinging back towards Chile. Brazil’s lead was now just two points and they were emptying their bench. Among those replaced was Lucas Tranquez. The fullback was stretched off as a precaution.
Brazil’s replacements were able to see Os Tupis return to control play. With it they were able to play in Chile’s half in the final ten minutes and go on to seal their victory. Reeves had a last minute penalty attempt which he opted to kick dead to end the contest.
CHILE: 1 Vittorio Lastra 2 Tomás Dussaillant 3 José Tomás Munita 4 Nikola Bursic 5 Mario Mayol 6 Javier Richard 7 Alfonso Escobar 8 Benjamín Soto 9 Juan Pablo Perrotta 10 Santiago Videla 11 Ítalo Zunino 12 Francisco de la Fuente 13 JOSÉ IGNACIO LARENAS (C) 14 Mauricio Urrutia 15 Tomás Ianiszewski BENCH: 16 Ignacio Guajardo 17 Sebastián Otero 18 Marco Díaz 19 Manuel Dagnino 20 Nicolás Garafulic 21 Beltrán Vergara 22 Benjamín Pizarro 23 Lucca Avelli
SCORERS T: PT, Garafulic C: Ianiszewski
BRAZIL: 1 Lucas Abud 2 YAN ROSETTI (C) 3 Jardel Vettorato 4 Gabriel Paganini 5 Lucas Piero 6 Arthur Bergo 7 Cléber Dias 8 André Arruda 9 Laurent Bourda-Couhet 10 Josh Reeves 11 De Wet van Niekerk 12 Moisés Duque 13 Felipe Sancery 14 Lucas Muller 15 Lucas Tranquez BENCH: 16 Angelo Marcucci 17 Michel Gomes 18 Wilton Rebolo 19 Diego López 20 Matheus Daniel 21 Will Broderick 22 Robert Tenório 23 Ariel Rodrigues
SCORERS T: Vettorato C: Reeves P: Reeves (3)
Referee: Pablo de Luca (UAR)
USA 17 - 10 ARGENTINA XV
StubHub Center, Carson, California - Saturday 03 February 2018
KO: 17:10 HT: 3-10
THE Eagles overcame a quality Argentina XV outfit, 17-10, to kick start their title defence, scoring 14 unanswered points in the second half to come from behind and walk away with the win.
The opening five minutes of the game was all one-way traffic with USA dominating possession and territory. After a three minute stint in the Argentinian 22, The US found themselves a man up after the Argentinean inside centre, Juan Cappiello, was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle without wrapping, but penalties for both fly halves went awry.
Another chance arose and this time Will Magie made no mistake of it, the ball sailing over the crossbar to take a 3-0 lead over Argentina after 22 minutes.
Ill-discipline and poor restarts continued to haunt the Eagles, Titi Lamositele was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle shortly into the second quarter. Rather than opting for the points on offer, the Argentinians decided to chance their arm and go for a try. They had no luck and instead had to settle for a penalty in the 30th minute off the boot of Juan Cruz Gonzalez to equalise.
The remaining 10 minutes of the first half saw most of the game be played in Eagles territory, as line outs and scrums went awry, making it nigh impossible for the Eagles to build any momentum. The visitors continued to execute and threaten, but strong defence from the hosts kept them out. However, with 3 minutes left, further indiscipline again hurt the Eagles as Cam Dolan was forced for a spell on the naughty step for a professional foul inside his own 22. Argentina were clinical from their ensuing set piece and crossed the white line, thanks to Santiago Montagner, up 10-3 heading into the half.
The second half could not have contrasted the first more starkly. The Eagles came out of the tunnel like bats out of hell and within 3 minutes had already won themselves a penalty to draw within 4 points of the guests.
Argentina came right back proving they were not going to roll over in a hurry. They spent the next 7 minutes peppering the Eagles' defence and try line, trying desperately to find a crack. In the 45th minute it looked as if they had. But an illegal clearance caused a try to be called back, and shortly afterwards a dropped pass with nothing but daylight ahead of the Argentinians meant that two tries went begging in as many minutes.
In the 50th minute, Mike Te'o proved to be the spark the Eagles needed as he made barnstorming runs, and kicked with pin point precession to keep the tourists well and truly on their heels. The Eagles found an attacking flare that had been missing and were probing the defence while asking questions, persistence paid off in the 59th minute when Tony Lamborn found himself in a gap and breached the goal line. The Eagles were now in the lead for the first time in 43 minutes, 11-10 up after Magie missed the conversion.
The Eagles did not stop and with brilliant counter attack from the back three; the forwards, not to be outdone by the backs, put in phenomenal work around the breakdown making the Argentineans' life miserable. The reward was two penalties awarded in the 68th and 75th minute as Will Hooley slotted his first 6 points of his international career, to have the Eagles leading by a converted try with five minutes left on the clock.
Argentina would not go away quietly, their tenaciousness evident up until the final whistle. As with regular time ending, and the game heading into stoppage, they won a tight-head scrum and launched a desperate and all-out assault on the USA goal line, trying desperately to tie the game up.
In the 84th minute the Pumas looked to have scored a try which, if the conversion were successful, would have tied the game up. The crowd, who had been roaring for the full affair, collectively held their breath as the try was referred to the TMO. The ball was knocked on during the grounding. The Eagles survived winning 17-10.
USA: 1 Titi Lamositele 2 Joe Taufete’e 3 Dino Waldren 4 Nate Brakeley 5 Nick Civetta 6 Hanco Germishuys 7 Tony Lamborn 8 Cam Dolan 9 Nate Augspurger 10 Will Magie 11 Ryan Matyas 12 Bryce Campbell 13 Marcel Brache 14 BLAINE SCULLY (C) 15 Mike Te’o BENCH: 16 James Hilterbrand 17 Holo Mo’ungaloa 18 Angus MacLellan 19 Ben Landry 20 Andrew Durutalo 21 Shaun Davies 22 Will Hooley 23 Dylan Audsley
SCORERS T: Lamborn C: Magie P: Magie, Hooley (2) YC Lamositele, Dolan
ARGENTINA XV: 1 Francisco Ferronato 2 Gaspar Baldunciel 3 Benjamín Espinal 4 Jerónimo Ureta 5 Ignacio Larrague 6 Rodrigo Bruni 7 LAUTARO BAVARO (C) 8 Santiago Montagner 9 Luca Magnasco 10 Juan Cruz González 11 Rodrigo Etchart 12 Juan Cappiello 13 Juan Cruz Mallía 14 Germán Schulz 15 Gastón Arias BENCH: 16 Diego Fortuny 17 Javier Díaz 18 Santiago Medrano 19 Santiago Portillo 20 Francisco Gorrissen 21 Facundo Nogueira 22 Tomás Granella 23 Tomás Malanos
SCORERS T: Montagner C: González P: González DG: Arias YC Cappiello
Referee: Chris Assmus (RC)
BRAZIL 18 - 27 URUGUAY
Pacaembu Stadium, São Paulo - Friday 09 February 2018
KO: 20:10 HT: 18-3
URUGUAY extended their unbeaten run to 13 tests with a hard-fought 27-18 victory over Brazil in round two of the Americas Rugby Championship 2018 at the Estadio do Pacaembu in São Paulo on Friday.
However, Los Teros certainly did not have it all their own way against a determined Brazilian side and needed 24 unanswered points to recover from an 18-3 deficit at half-time and make it two wins from two in the competition.
With the temperature still a balmy 28 degrees when the match kicked off at 20:10 local time, it was Brazil who started the brighter against the side sitting seven places above them in the World Rugby Rankings, full-back Lucas Tranquez hacking up field after a Uruguayan error to the delight of the home fans.
That attack may have come to nothing but within minutes Os Tupís were rewarded for their bright start when a solid scrum allowed centre Moisés Duque to take play to the five-metre line, the ball being recycled for Josh Reeves to send winger De Wet van Niekerk over the line.
Fly-half Reeves, a standout player in their win over Chile the previous weekend, kept the scoreboard ticking over with two penalties before Germán Albanell, finding life hard in the unfamiliar position of scrum-half, finally opened Uruguay’s account with a penalty on the half hour mark.
Brazil were unfazed by that kick and instead increased their lead to 18-3 with five minutes to go to half-time after some quick hands from Duque and Tranquez enabled outside centre Felipe Sancery to dive over for their second try.
A piece of cynical play by prop Jardel Vettorato saw him sin-binned just before the break, but Brazil were worthy of their lead against a much-changed Los Teros side from that which had beaten Canada to claim the Americas 2 berth for Japan 2019 the previous weekend.
Some harsh words were clearly said in the Uruguay dressing room at half-time as they emerged a more determined side, making the most of their man advantage to score their first try of the night when hooker Germán Kessler dived over following a powerful driving maul.
That try gave Uruguay the momentum they had been searching for and as they began to dominant territory and possession Brazil found it hard to live with them. It took Uruguay until just after the hour mark, though, to get another try, second-row Diego Magno grounding the ball to cut the deficit to one point.
With both sides tiring in the heat and humidity, it seemed only a matter of time before Uruguay would complete the comeback and so it proved with Manuel Diana’s break off a scrum resulting in a debut try for fellow replacement Tomas Inciarte.
Even then, Brazil had chances to score a third try of their own, number eight Andre Arruda unable to hold onto the ball as Os Tupís fought their way to within five metres of Uruguay’s line. In the end, they were denied even a losing bonus point thanks to Albanell’s penalty with the final kick of the game.
BRAZIL: 1 Lucas Abud 2 YAN ROSETTI (C) 3 Jardel Vettorato 4 Gabriel Paganini 5 Lucas Piero 6 Arthur Bergo 7 Cléber Dias 8 André Arruda 9 Laurent Bourda-Couhet 10 Josh Reeves 11 De Wet van Niekerk 12 Moisés Duque 13 Felipe Sancery 14 Robert Tenório 15 Lucas Tranquez BENCH: 16 Endy Willian 17 Michel Gomes 18 Wilton Rebolo 19 Michael Moraes 20 Matheus Daniel 21 Will Broderick 22 Lucas Muller 23 Ariel Rodrigues
SCORERS T: Sancery, van Niekerk C: Reeves P: Reeves (2) YC Vettorato
URUGUAY: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Germán Kessler 3 Mario Sagario 4 Ignacio Dotti 5 Diego Magno 6 JUAN MANUEL GAMINARA (C) 7 Rodolfo Garese 8 Alejandro Nieto 9 Germán Albanell 10 Andrés De León 11 Gastón Mieres 12 Agustín Della Corte 13 Juan Manuel Cat 14 Joaquín Prada 15 Rodrigo Silva BENCH: 16 Matías Benítez 17 Carlos Pombo 18 Juan Echeverría 19 Diego Ayala 20 Manuel Diana 21 Gonzalo Soto 22 Tomás Inciarte 23 Manuel Blengio
SCORERS T: Inciarte, Kessler, Magno C: Albanell Herrera (3) P: Albanell Herrera (2)
Referee: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
USA 29 - 10 CANADA
Papa Murphy's Park, Sacramento, California - Friday 10 February 2018
KO: 15:10 HT: 14-7
A fiercely contested battle saw the USA Eagles overcome long-time rival Canada 29-10 in the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship to keep the CANAM trophy. A strong start by the United States quickly became an intense defensive stand as the squad fought through the first half to keep Canada out of the try zone. Only giving up one score to their northern neighbour, the Eagles dominated play in the second half to walk away with their second win of the tournament.
The electricity of the match was evident from the very start as back-to-back scrums resulted with Nick Civetta crossing the line for what should have been a try in the first few minutes. Though he did not dot down, Nate Augspurger came in several minutes later to officially put the Eagles on the board first, 7-0.
USA's strong early showing continued when Mike Te'o, took the ball on a high kick from Canada and charged past their 22-meter line. Ryan Matyas finished the job by breaking open on the left flank and increasing the lead, 14-0.
While the offense was clicking and energy was driving the Eagles forward, Canada began to shift the momentum considerably in their favour. With an intense attack in U.S. territory, less than 5-metres from the goal line, Canada drove in their first score with Patrick Parfrey, 14-7. The remainder of the half would force the USA to channel their defensive strength as the Canadians kept the squad continuously working on their own side of the pitch.
As time dwindled down, the Eagles were called for a high-tackle on Sears-Duru and awarded their rival another opportunity for more points. But, Seller's penalty kick missed the posts and the United States held on to their 7-point lead.
The Eagles made it inside Canada's 22 within moments once play resumed but were held up in goal and unable to recover.
A missed penalty kick by Will Hooley and a trip p to the sin bin on a high tackle for Cam Dolan appeared to have the Eagles in trouble again.
A perfect kick earned the Eagles a spot inside Canadian territory next, with Mike Te'o picking it up and driving it closer to the line. With clear space, the Eagles tossed the ball to Ryan Matyas who made no mistake and dotted down for his second try and the win, 29-10.
Finishing the match in spectacular fashion, Matyas took a seat on the bench calling upon Josh Whippy who spent the final two minutes earning his first official cap.
USA: 1 Titi Lamositele 2 Joe Taufete’e 3 Dino Waldren 4 Nate Brakeley 5 Nick Civetta 6 Hanco Germishuys 7 Tony Lamborn 8 Cam Dolan 9 Nate Augspurger 10 Will Magie 11 Ryan Matyas 12 Bryce Campbell 13 Dylan Audsley 14 BLAINE SCULLY (C) 15 Mike Te’o BENCH: 16 James Hilterbrand 17 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa 18 Angus MacLellan 19 Ben Landry 20 Andrew Durutalo 21 Shaun Davies 22 Will Hooley 23 Josh Whippy
SCORERS T: Augspurger, Germishuys, Matyas (2) C: Magie (3) P: Hooley YC Dolan
CANADA: 1 Djustice Sears-Duru 2 Ray Barkwill 3 Jake Ilnicki 4 Josh Larsen 5 Kyle Baillie 6 Lucas Rumball 7 Matt Heaton 8 Luke Campbell 9 PHIL MACK (C) 10 Shane O’Leary 11 DTH van der Merwe 12 Nick Blevins 13 Guiseppe du Toit 14 Brock Staller 15 Patrick Parfrey BENCH: 16 Martial Lagain 17 Anthony Luca 18 Cole Keith 19 Conor Keys 20 Dustin Dobravsky 21 Gordon McRorie 22 Robbie Povey 23 Cole Davis
SCORERS T: Parfrey C: Staller P: Staller
Referee: Francisco González (URU)
ARGENTINA XV 57 - 12 CHILE
Estadio Agustín Pichot, Ushuaia - Friday 10 February 2018
KO: 17:40 HT: 24-5
WITH the wind coming down from the Andes and on to the Beagle Channel, the Estadio Agustín Pichot in Ushuaia made kicking extremely difficult and both teams were forced to control the ball as much as they could possibly could. A dominant scrum was crucial for an Argentina XV win that was far less comfortable than the score suggests, three yellow cards for Chile not helping their cause in the world's southernmost city.
Chile came painfully close to scoring the game’s first try within the first two minutes, but doubts in the attack allowed the home side to scramble and defend.
Juan Cruz González kicked an 11th-minute penalty for Argentina XV and then, after the hosts had been frustrated by Chilean pressure, the fly-half converted number eight Santiago Portillo's try.
Chile full-back Tomás Ianiszewski then got his side on the scoreboard with a tap and run – racing more than 50 metres – just before the half-hour mark try, but the loss of captain Javier Richard to the sin-bin proved costly with Argentina XV awarded a penalty try before their own full-back Tomás Videla's try made it 24-5 at half-time.
The second half was not even a minute old when Chile made light of their man disadvantage with winger Ítalo Zunino scoring in the corner, Ianiszewski adding the conversion despite kicking into the swirling wind.
Argentina XV continued to dominate, though, with centre Santiago Resino and prop Axel Zapata crossing for tries before Benjamin Soto received Chile's second yellow card.
Replacement Francisco Ferronato added a seventh try for Argentina XV before Lucas Avelli became the third Chile player sin-binned by referee Joaquin Montes. In his absence Tomas Granella and Nicolas Sbrocco add their name to the scoresheet, ensuring their side bounced back from an opening round loss to USA.
ARGENTINA XV: 1 Axel Zapata 2 Diego Fortuny 3 Lucas Favre 4 Jerónimo Ureta 5 Diego Galetto 6 Mariano Romanini 7 TOMÁS DE LA VEGA (C) 8 Santiago Portillo 9 Facundo Nogueira 10 Juan Cruz González 11 Julián Domínguez 12 Lucas Mensa 13 Santiago Resino 14 Tomás Malanos 15 Tomás Videla BENCH: 16 Gaspar Baldunciel 17 Francisco Ferronato 18 Santiago Medrano 19 Franco Molina 20 Nicolás Sbrocco 21 Gregorio del Prete 22 Tomás Granella 23 Germán Schulz
SCORERS T: Ferronato, Granella, Portillo, Resino, Sbrocco, Videla, Zapata, PT C: González (3), Granella Vickers (3) P: González
CHILE: 1 Vittorio Lastra 2 Tomás Dussaillant 3 Marco Díaz 4 Manuel Dagnino 5 Mario Mayol 6 JAVIER RICHARD (C) 7 Alfonso Escobar 8 Benjamín Soto 9 Beltrán Vergara 10 Benjamín Pizarro 11 Ítalo Zunino 12 Francisco de la Fuente 13 Lucca Avelli 14 Matías Balbontín 15 Tomás Ianiszewski BENCH: 16 Ignacio Guajardo 17 Sebastián Otero 18 Claudio Iturra 19 Thomas Orchard 20 Nicolás Garafulic 21 Domingo Saavedra 22 José Tomás Baraona 23 Diego Ramírez
SCORERS T: Ianiszewski Vergara, Zunino C: Ianiszewski Vergara, Zunino YC Avelli, Richard, Soto Madrigal
Referee: Joaquín Montes (URU)
