Uruguay edge Chile in Santiago

Uruguay escaped with a narrow 23-20 win over Chile at the Parque Mahuida in Santiago on Saturday afternoon. A scrappy match that produced hordes of penalties and five yellow cards interspersed with moments of attacking rugby made it another nail-biting finish, though not quite as riveting as the scoreline would suggest.

The two sides looked were evenly matched until Federico Favaro took an inside ball off a lineout move to slice through the gap and race over the line untouched. Chile appealed against as the throw was not straight, but the try stood and Martín Secco’s conversion gave Uruguay the early lead.

Matías Nordenflycht returned fire for Chile with his first penalty goal just moments later, and nailed his second after Leandro Leivas was shown yellow for a dangerous tackle. On two occasions Francisco de la Fuente broke free and both could have resulted in tries, but Ítalo Zunino knocked on with only grass in front of him and Roberto Oyarzún’s bollocking finish ended inches short as he dropped the ball reaching for the line. A third came just as Leivas returned, giving Los Cóndores their first lead of the match, but it was short lived as Secco replied with a penalty of his own.

The mad scramble to end the half continued as Chile poured on the pressure and worked their way quickly into Uruguayan territory. An ill-advised chip ahead from Francisco de la Fuente somehow evaded the arms of both Matías Beer and Rodrigo Silva, and it was instead Nordenflycht who came up with the ball for an unconverted try on the stroke of halftime to give Los Cóndores a four point lead at the break.

A stop-start second half saw Secco and Nordenflycht exchanging kicks before a third penalty came from Secco as play neared the hour mark. Soon after referee Damián Schneider’s patience ran out and de la Fuente was sent to the bin, and while Chile’s defense held furiously on their goal line, yet another penalty sent Jose Ignacio Larenas to the sidelines as well an reduced Los Cóndores to 13 men. Uruguay finally got their rewards as Rodrigo Silva dove over in the corner, with Secco’s exceptional sideline kick stretching the new lead to six.

The card flurry continued, but this time to Uruguay as Mateo Sanguinetti was admonished for his own team’s ill-discipline. Within seconds Nordenflycht nailed his fifth kick of the day, personally claiming all 20 of Chile’s points, but a fifth yellow card came straight after to Oyarzún, once again reducing Chile to only 13 players and all but ending hopes of a comeback.

That would be the end of the scoring as Chile couldn’t get themselves back into scoring territory. Los Cóndores now await Canada, who arrive in Santiago after facing the Argentina XV in Rosario on Sunday. Uruguay will host the US Eagles, who must first get through Brazil in São Paulo, played immediately following the match in Chile.

 

SCORING

CHILE 20
Tries – M. Nordenflycht (40′)
Pens – M. Nordenflycht 5 (20′, 27′, 37′, 52′, 71′)
Yellow cards – F. de la Fuente (57′), J. Larenas (65′), R. Oyarzún (72′)

URUGUAY 23
Tries – F. Favaro (17′), R. Silva (66′)
Cons – M. Secco 2 (18′, 67′)
Pens – M. Secco 3 (39′, 49′, 55′)
Yellow cards – L. Leivas (26′), M. Sanguinetti (69′)

 

TEAMS

CHILE
1 Nicolás Venegas (17 Roberto Oyarzún 11′-18′, 25′ {18 José Tomás Munita HT}), 2 Rodrigo Moya (16 Manuel Gurruchaga HT), 3 Luis Sepúlveda (17 Roberto Oyarzún 70), 4 Nikola Bursic (19 Ignacio Álvarez 50′-61′), 5 Raimundo Piwonka (19 Ignacio Álvarez 61′), 6 Cristóbal Niedmann (20 Ignacio Silva 68′), 7 Javier Richard, 8 Benjamín Soto (capt.), 9 Beltrán Vergara, 10 Cristián Onetto, 11 Ítalo Zunino, 12 Francisco de la Fuente, 13 Matías Nordenflycht, 14 José Ignacio Larenas (Luis Sepulveda 75′), 15 Leonardo Montoya

Not used: 21 Matthieu Manas, 22 Pablo Casas, 23 Matías Contreras

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (18 Rafael Mones 79′), 2 Germán Kessler (16 Carlos Arboleya 50′), 3 Juan Echeverría (17 Facundo Gattas 56′), 4 Diego Magno, 5 Mathias Palomeque (19 Gonzalo Soto 53′), 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Matías Beer (20 Juan Diego Ormaechea 56′ {18 Rafael Mones 75′-79′}), 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Guillermo Lijtenstein (21 Santiago Arata 53′), 10 Martín Secco, 11 Leandro Leivas, 12 Alberto Román, 13 Andrés Vilaseca, (23 Pedro Deal 26′-28′), 14 Federico Favaro (23 Pedro Deal 57′), 15 Rodrigo Silva

Not used: 22 Manuel Blengio

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (UAR)
Assistants: Claudio Ruz (FERUCHI) & Luis Díaz (FERUCHI)

 

Attendance: 1,497