Americas Pacific Challenge: USA Rugby Selects v. Uruguay

The USA Rugby Selects lost 33-18 to Uruguay XV in their second match of the 2018 Americas Pacific Challenge on Wednesday, October 10 in Montevideo, Uruguay. Handling errors foiled the Selects as Uruguay broke an 18-18 tie with 15 unanswered points for the win.

After losing 39-30 in the first match To Tonga A, the Selects will close out the Americas Pacific Challenge 2018 with reigning champion Argentina XV on Oct. 13. Kick off at 12:30 PM ET and be streamed LIVE on FloRugby.

USA Rugby Selects vs. Uruguay Recap

The Selects took an early lead four minutes into the match after Dylan Audsley slotted a penalty kick after Uruguay was pinged for not releasing a tackler at the breakdown. Seven minutes later, Federico Favaro slotted a 47-meter kick to level the match at 3 all.

The USA Rugby Selects took advantage of Uruguay breakdown infractions as Audsley slotted another kick for a 6-3 lead.

Discipline issues plagued the Los Teros and loosehead prop Mateo Sanguinetti was sent to the bin for a dangerous hit on Psalm Wooching. Uruguay survived his absence and then took a 10-6 lead after Santiago Arata sliced around the scrum for a try and Favaro converted.

Then it was Favaro’s turn for a try in the corner after a linebreak by Prada. His kick was wide, but Los Teros increased their lead to 15-6.

Just prior to the break, a quick tap led to a Ryan Matyas dummy, before finishing with a 60 meters try, cutting Uruguay’s lead to 15-11.

Early in the second half, Favaro slotted a penalty kick to extend the lead to 18-11. The restart went to the Selects and JP Eloff found a gap and scampered to about 15 meters from the line. Dylan Audsley then beat two defenders for a try under the posts, which he converted to knot the score at 18 all.

Uruguay broke the tie in the 56th minute with another penalty kick after the Selects were offsides. Three minutes later, Conor Kearns attempted a drop goal, but the kick went under the posts.

The score held until the 72nd minute when Arata darted over the line for his second try. Favaro again converted and the lead was 28-18.

Time was rapidly dwindling and the Selects needed to take one last run at Los Teros. They ran the ball from deep in their territory, advancing the ball into Uruguay territory. The team needed to maintain possession and score at least a penalty kick to gain a losing bonus point. Instead, a questionable decision was made to attempt a crosskick that went into Uruguay hands. This ultimately led to a break by Ignacio García and having an overlap, an offload to Andrés Vilaseca for a try and a 33-18 win.

With the win, Uruguay is 2-0, the Selects record falls to 0-2. Next for the Selects are Argentina XV on Saturday.

USA Selects: 1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Alex Maughan, 3 John Hayden, 4 Brendan Daly, 5 Nate Brakeley, 6 Psalm Wooching, 7 Vili Toluta’u, 8 Hanco Germishuys, 9 Devereaux Ferris, 10 JP Eloff, 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 Anthony Salaber, 13 Dylan Audsley, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 Conor Kearns (capt.) 16 Pat O’Toole, 17 Angus MacLellan, 18 Cam Falcon, 19 Taylor Krumrei, 20 Matt Jensen, 21 Thomas Robles, 22 Holden Yungert, 23 Mitch Wilson

Uruguay XV: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Rombys, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Ayala, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Andrés De León, 11 Federico Favaro, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Joaquín Prada, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Manuel Blengio 16 Manuel Ardao, 17 Guillermo Pujadas, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Alejandro Nieto, 20 Diego Magno, 21 Joaquín Alonso, 22 Ignacio García, 23 Tomás Inciarte