Uruguay Earn Bonus Point Win Against Brazil in Americas Rugby Championship

February 18, 2017

Uruguay Earn Bonus Point Win Against Brazil in Americas Rugby Championship

Doug Coil

Uruguay beat Brazil 25-12 Saturday at Domingo Burgueño Miguel Stadium in their first home match and gained their first win of the Americas Rugby Championship.

Recap

Moisés Duque punished Uruguay with a penalty kick two minutes into the match. Five minutes later, Diego Ayala barrelled over for a try and a 5-3 lead. Germán Albanell then pushed the conversion wide left.

Moisés Duque slotted a penalty kick at 11 minutes to retake the lead 6-5, but missed a long kick three minutes later.

Brazil was soon placed under pressure and instead of falling on the ball, the Brazil fullback elected to kick the ball ahead. Martín Espiga caught the ball, ran, then offloaded to Ignacio Dotti for a try in the corner. Germán Albanell missed the conversion from touch, but Uruguay reclaimed a 10-6 lead.

Uruguay appeared to get another try at the 32nd minute off several pick and goes. The referee consulted with the assistant referee and indicated that there was double movement on the play. Brazil cleared, but Uruguay attacked again. They had their second consecutive 5 meter lineout and mauled their way near the line before losing it forward. Brazil cleared the ball 60 meters downfield to escape for a second time within minutes of each other.

Uruguay maintained the pressure on Brazil and were once again on the verge of another try, but were held up in-goal. From the ensuing scrum, Uruguay pushed the ball over the line and Diego Ayala had his second try of the match at the 40th minute. Germán Albanell who was so effective last week against the USA, hot the post and his third missed conversion. That signaled halftime and Uruguay went into the break with a 17-6 lead.

Set pieces favored Uruguay during the first half, as Uruguay went 4-0 in scrums and 7-1 in lineouts, but won 2 of 4 of Brazil’s. Brazil was able to put points on the board from 2 of 3 penalties, but often kicked away possession. During the last ten minutes of the first half, Uruguay placed Brazil under a tremendous amount of pressure from forward attacks and have to feel fortunate that they  thwarted Uruguay twice from scoring in close.

Second Half

Brazil had the early attack in the second half as Moisés Duque found a gap and brought it within 22 meters. A error by Uruguay then had Duque slot an easy kick to narrow Uruguay’s lead to 17-9.

Uruguay then attacked right back and after a Gonzalo Soto break and a Leandro Leivas offload to Santiago Arata, he went in for the try and a 22-9 lead. Germán Albanell has been having a terrible kicking match and missed his fourth.

At the 49th minute, Germán Albanell finally added his first points of the match, as he slotted a penalty kick. This extended Uruguay’s lead to 25-9.

Uruguay’s Leandro Leivas survived a shoulder tackle by Brazil. From a 5 meter lineout Uruguay mauled their way over the line, but lost the ball and Brazil escaped from a third sure try during this match.

With 16 minutes left in the match, Moisés Duque added his fourth penalty kick of the match and account for all of Brazil’s points.

A frustrated Brazil was then penalized again and would need to contend from the Uruguay attack by their forwards. Nicolás Freitas grubbed the ball and the referee was not satisfied with the grounding of the ball. He was playing an advantage and Uruguay now had a 5 meter scrum. Brazil dodged another bullet as Uruguay was penalized for not releasing the ball.

With 7 minutes left, Uruguay’s Guillermo Lijtenstein offloaded the ball to Leandro Leivas who dove over the line, but the ball was deemed a forward pass.

It’s amazing that with the punishing attacks by Uruguay, that Brazil continued to kick away possession.

Brazil had the last attacking opportunity of the match, but it did not result in additional points.

With the bonus point win, should the USA beat Canada by more than 7 points, they would take over third place in the Americas Rugby Championship.

Next week, Uruguay will host Canada, while Brazil will face Argentina XV.

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