USA Men’s Eagles Suffers Loss to Uruguay

The USA Men’s Eagles faced Uruguay in the fourth round of the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship on March 2 at Starfire Sports Stadium. Uruguay emerged with a 32-25 win, Los Teros first win over the Eagles on U.S. soil.

As the result of the loss, the Eagles fell to 15th place in the World Rugby standings, while Uruguay moved to 16th.

The Eagles will conclude the ARC against Canada on Friday, March 8 at Starfire Sports with the kickoff at 10:10 pm ET and will be broadcast LIVE on FloRugby.

Match Recap

Less than a minute into the match, the Eagles were penalized and Los Teros elected to go for goal. Federico Favaro’s kick from beyond midfield bounced off the posts. Soon after a turnover led to a try by Mateo Sanguinetti and after Favaro converted Uruguay had a 7-0 lead.

Joe Taufete’e then mauled over the try line after a lineout and broke the try record for front row players in his 21 appearance. A second Taufete’e try then gave the U.S. a 10-7 lead.

Favaro then missed a chance to level the match after his penalty kick was wide left. Favaro redeemed the miss after receiving an offlaod from Vilaseca for a try to reclaim the lead 12-10. That was short lived as Hooley slotted a kick to retake a 13-12 lead.

Juan Manuel Cat then extended their lead off a breakdown to 19-13 at the break.

Uruguay extended the lead early in the second half as Uruguay took a high ball by Hooley and attacked with Favaro then Cat runs before Favaro finished with a try to push the lead to 24-13.

The USA were now in a deep hole and needed points right away. The team then mauled after a lineout with Taufete’e gaining a hat trick try to cut the lead to 24-18.

The Eagles then had two scoring opportunities before a penalty and a handling error allowed Uruguay to escape the pressure. Los Teros then extended their lead to 29-18 after a Nicholas Freitas try.

A high tackle by Uruguay captain Juan Manuel Gaminara on Hanco Germishuys sent him to the bin for the remainder of the match. The Eagles capitalized from a Cam Dolan skip pass to Blaine Scully for a try and a conversion by Will Magie to cut the lead to 29-25 with 7 minutes remaining in the match.

A U.S. penalty then led to a Vilaseca kick for a 32-25 Uruguay win.

Credit Uruguay for defending the try line with the U.S. poised to score a couple of times. Congratulations go to Andres Vilaseca for his 50th try and to Joe Taufete’e for his record breaking try performance.

The U.S. entered the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship with high expectations and ranked at an all-time high of 12th place. The performances of Georgia, Tonga, and Italy along with the loss to Uruguay, has moved the Eagles downward into 15th place. They face Canada in the final match on Friday, March 8.

USA Head Coach Gary Gold has attempted to balance the team needs with the compromises made with Major Legue Rugby and with European Professional leagues. Those demands have not provided the consistency that is desired, but the USA will need to evaluate player performances as they continue their preparation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Squads