England ended their World Cup on a slightly better note as they walloped Uruguay by a score of 60-3 in Manchester. Nick Easter and Jack Nowell each scored hat tricks, while Anthony Watson added two tries to a single by Henry Slade. Felipe Berchesi’s 2nd minute penalty gave Los Teros an early lead but they were to be the only points scored by his side during the match.
Uruguay fought manfully in the first half, competing well at the breakdown putting the much-fancied English forwards under pressure, nearly scoring on one driving maul. Ultimately they ran out of steam against their fully professional opponents and England ran away with it, scoring six tries during the final half hour of the match.
Los Teros walk away from the tournament winless but can take heart from two tries scored against Fiji and showing reasonably well against their vastly more experienced opponents. They will now begin preparations for the inaugural Americas Rugby Cup which kicks off in February.
Hosts England meanwhile limp out of their worst ever World Cup performance, with a coaching staff heavily under fire and mass changes expected before the Six Nations.
ENGLAND 60
Tries – A. Watson 2 (7, 42), N. Easter 3 (18, 23, 60), H. Slade (54), J. Nowell 3 (57, 70, 74), Penalty try (80)
Cons – O. Farrell 4 (8, 19, 25, 58), G. Ford (80)
URUGUAY 3
Pens – F. Berchesi (2)
Yellow cards – S. Vilaseca (40)
ENGLAND
1 M. Vunipola (J. Marler 71) 2 T. Youngs (J. George 30) 3 D. Cole (D. Wilson 43) 4 J. Launchbury 5 G. Parling (G. Kruis 55) 6 J. Haskell (T. Wood 61) 7 C. Robshaw (capt.) 8 N. Easter 9 D. Care (R. Wigglesworth 71) 10 G. Ford 11 J. Nowell 12 O. Farrell (J. Joseph 59) 13 H. Slade 14 A. Watson (M. Brown 66) 15 A. Goode
URUGUAY
1 M. Sanguinetti (A. Corral 63) 2 C. Arboleya (O. Durán 71) 3 M. Sagario (N. Klappenbach 63) 4 S. Vilaseca (capt.) 5 J. Zerbino (M. Palomeque 63) 6 J. Gaminara 7 M. Beer (D. Magno 68) 8 A. Nieto (A. Alonso 68) 9 A. Ormaechea (A. Durán 73) 10 F. Berchesi (M. Blengio 73) 11 R. Silva 12 A. Vilaseca 13 J. Prada 14 S. Gibernau 15 G. Mieres