Uruguay Celebrates Win Against Canada: Americas Rugby Championship

Doug Coil

Uruguay narrowly defeated Canada 17-13 in the fourth leg of the Americas Rugby Championship on Saturday February 25 at the Campus Municipal de Maldonado. With the win, Uruguay moves to third place, while Canada is in fourth.

Canada concludes their ARC 2017 campaign in Brazil on Friday March 3rd, while Uruguay hosts Chile on Saturday March 4.

Recap Uruguay vs. Canada

It is a time to celebrate in Uruguay as Los Teros beat Canada 17-13 in their second ever test win against Canada. Uruguay controlled the match during the first half and Canada stormed back near the end of the match and were within a try at the end.

Canada picked up a bonus point from with their narrow loss, however Uruguay will need to falter next week against Chile in Montevideo, while Canada will need to win against Brazil in São Paulo.

The tempers were short from the physical play dominating the early minutes. The referee needed to step in and have the players focus on the task at hand. Canada struck first from a penalty kick by captain Gordon McRorie at the 4th minute.

German Albanell tied the match in the 7th minute and then Leandro Leivas scored the first try of the match as he kicked the ball forward beating fullback Brock Staller and grounding the ball for a try and a conversion by Germán Albanell for a 10-3 lead.

Staller was sent to the bin in the 24th minute after hitting Juan Manuel Cat in the air after a clearance attempt. Uruguay elected to seize the opportunity for another try and kicked for the corner. After the lineout win, a maul ensued and Canada collapsed the maul. Referee Derek Summers awarded the first seven-point penalty try in test-rugby , with no kick at goal needed. Uruguay increased their lead to 17-3.

Canada did have another opportunity to score prior to halftime, but McRorie missed a penalty kick.

At the 49th minute, Germán Albanell was sent to the bin and Gordon McRorie narrowed the lead to 17-6 with a penalty kick.

Canada began to attack more often during the second half, but could not always maintain possession. A Gradyn Bowd pass to Admir Cejvanonic was dropped just prior to crossing the try line.

With eight minutes to play, Uruguay’s Franco Lamanna was sent to the sin bin. After Brock Staller missed the resulting penalty, Conor Trainor found a gap in the defense and went in for the try. Staller’s conversion made it 17-13. In the waning minutes Uruguay defended well and neither team was able to add to the score.

Uruguay has to be very please with the win and should move from 23rd place in the World Rugby rankings to 21th place. Canada with the loss will sit at 20th.

Scoring

Uruguay: Try Leandro Leivas (19’), penalty try (25’), conversion Germán Albanell (20’), penalty Germán Albanell (12’)

Canada: Try Conor Trainor (74’), conversion Brock Staller (75’), penalties Gordon McRorie (3’, 49’)

Referee: Derek Summers (USA). Assistant Referees: Joaquín Montes and Rodrigo Goyret (Uruguay)

Squads with Replacements

Uruguay: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti (57’ 16 Facundo Gattas), 2 Martín Espiga (75’ 17 Matías Benítez), 3 Juan Echeverría (50’ 18 Mario Sagario); 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Ayala (64’ 20 Diego Magno); 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (captain)(64’ 19 Juan Diego Ormaechea), 7 Franco Lamanna (sin bin 73’); 8 Alejandro Nieto; 9 Santiago Arata (55’ 21 Guillermo Lietjenstein), 10 Germán Albanell (sin bin 48’); 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat (HIA 60-66’ 23 Gastón Mieres)(75’ 22 Gastón Gibernau), 14 Leandro Leivas (66’ 23 Gastón Mieres); 15 Rodrigo Silva

Canada: 1 Rob Brouwer (68’ 17 Djustice Sears-Duru), 2 Ray Barkwill (62’ 16 Eric Howard), 3 Matthew Tierney; 4 Brett Beukeboom, 5 Reegan O’Gorman (55’ Liam Cheesholm); 6 Clay Panga (59’ 20 Matt Beukeboom), 7 Lucas Rumball; 8 Admir Cejvanovic; 9 Gordon McRorie (captain) (57’ 21 Phil Mack), 10 Robbie Bovey (40’ 22 Gradyn Bowd); 11 Lloyd Kainoa (66’ 23 Guiseppe du Toit), 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Conor Trainor (blood bin, 29’ 23 Guiseppe du Toit, 14 Dan Moor; 15 Brock Staller (sin bin 24’). Reserve: 18 Cole Keith

Match Day Squads

Uruguay v Canada: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Martín Espiga, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Ayala, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Franco Lammana, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Germán Albanell, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Rodrigo Silva 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Mario Sagario, 19 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 20 Diego Magno, 21 Guillermo Lijtenstein, 22 Gastón Gibernau, 23 Gastón Mieres

Canada v Uruguay: 1 Rob Brouwer, 2 Ray Barkwill, 3 Matt Tierney, 4 Brett Beukeboom, 5 Reegan O’Gorman, 6 Clay Panga, 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Admir Cejvanovic, 9 Gordon McRorie (capt.), 10 Robbie Povey, 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Conor Trainor, 14 Dan Moor, 15 Brock Staller 16 Eric Howard, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Cole Keith, 19 Liam Chisholm, 20 Matt Beukeboom, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Gradyn Bowd, 23 Guiseppe du Toit

Uruguay – Americas Rugby Championship