February 28, 2016
Uruguay Prevails Over Chile in Americas Rugby Championship
Doug Coil
Chile v Uruguay: Santiago, Chile, Feb. 27, 2016
The match between Chile and Uruguay had all the drama of a heavyweight fight. This was a rivalry match where pride would be at stake and passion clearly visible. Five yellow cards were issued and there were numerous penalties that turned the match into a kicking duel at times. The attacks were still enjoyable to watch. In the end, Uruguay prevailed 23-20 over Chile.
Uruguay picked up 4 points in the Americas Rugby Championship and now have 10 points, while Chile picked up a bonus points for keeping the match within 7 points and now have 5 in the competition.
It took sixteen minutes before Urugauy’s Frederico Favaro scored the first try from a lineout. Martín Secco converted and Uruguay had a 7-0 lead.
Chile would answer back a few minutes later as Matías Nordenflycht slotted a penalty kick and would add another shortly after Uruguay’s wing Leandro Leivas was issued a yellow card. Just as he returned from the bin, Nordenflycht added his third penalty kick for a Chile 9-7 lead. (39′)
The scoring was coming in a flurry prior to halftime, as Martín Secco answered back with a penalty kick of his own to reclaim the lead. (9-10, 40′)
One last attack had Chile kicking ahead and Matías Nordenflycht scoring a try in the corner. The kick was not converted and Chile held a 14-10 lead at halftime.
The second half featured a kicking duel between Martín Secco for Uruguay and Matías Nordenflycht for Chile. Secco slotted his third penalty kick eight minutes into the half and Nordenflycht added his 4th three minutes later. Not to be out done, Secco countered with his 4th and the score was Chile 17-16 Uruguay. (54′)
With infractions running rampant, Referee Damían Schmeider issued a yellow card to Chile’s Francisco de la Fuente at the 57th minute. José Ignacio Larenas would join him eight minutes later reducing Los Cóndores to 13 men. That stretched the defense and Uruguay was able to capitalize with a Rodrigo Silva try in the corner. Martín Secco converted from near touch and Uruguay lead 23-17. (66′)
Seconds later, Uruguay’s Mateo Sanguinetti was sent to the bin. Matías Nordenflycht slotted his fifth penalty kick of the day to narrow the gap to 20-23 in favor of Uruguay.
Still playing with 14 men, Chile’s Roberto Oyarzun was issued the team’s third yellow card of the match, which reduced them once again to 13 players. (72′) Uruguay was not able to take advantage in adding additional points in the match with the match ending 23-20 in Uruguay’s favor.
The yellow card infractions hurt Chile more, since they played down a man or two the last twenty three minutes of the match.
Next week is the fifth and final week of the Americas Rugby Championship. Chile will host Canada in Santiago, while Uruguay will host the United States in Montevideo .
Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina). Assistants: Claudio Ruz and Luis Díaz (both Chile)
Chile Squad: 1 Nicolás Venegas 2 Rodrigo Moya 3 Luis Sepúlveda 4 Nikola Bursic 5 Raimundo Piwonka 6 Cristóbal Niedmann 7 Javier Richard 8 Benjamín Soto (cap) 9 Beltrán Vergara 10 Cristian Onetto 11 Ítalo Zunino 12 Francisco de la Fuente 13 Matías Nordenflycht 14 José Ignacio Larenas 15 Leonardo Montoya. Res: 16 Manuel Gurruchaga 17 Roberto Oyarzun 18 José Tomás Munita 19 Ignacio Silva 20 Ignacio Álvarez 21 Matthieu Manas 22 Pablo Casas 23 Matías Contreras
Uruguay Squad: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Germán Kessler 3 Juan Echeverría 4 Diego Magno 5 Mathias Palomeque 6 Juan Gaminara (cap) 7 Matías Beer 8 Alejandro Nieto 9 Guillermo Lietjenstein 10 Martín Secco 11 Leandro Leivas 12 Alberto Román 13 Andrés Vilaseca 14 Federico Favaro 15 Rodrigo Silva. Res: Carlos Arboleya 17 Facundo Gattas 18 Rafael Mones 19 Gonzalo Soto 20 Juan Diego Ormaechea 21 Manuel Blengio 22 Santiago Arata 23 Pedro Deal
Week 4 Americas Rugby Championship previews Chile v Uruguay, Brazil v USA and Argentina v Canada.
