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Uruguay’s junior side, Los Teritos, completed a memorable weekend of international results for the country, defeating Georgia in an under 20’s match in Montevideo this afternoon. The fixture was the third match of Georgia’s South American tour following two outings against Los Pumitas in Argentina.
Los Teritos’ 21-19 hard-fought win was not secured until the final minutes. A 76th minute try gave Uruguay the lead which they held onto to complete a famous victory. Georgia had begun strongly, crossing for two tries in the opening quarter. Uruguay hit back after 28 minutes with a try and with the second of two fist half penalties coming in the 34th minute the scores were 14-13 to the visitors at the interval.
A low-scoring second half saw Uruguay scoring the first points in the 66th minute, giving them the lead for the first time in the match. Georgia responded in the 72nd minute with their third try of the match but the unsuccessful conversion proved decisive. Uruguay’s converted try four minutes from full-time gave them the win.
For Los Teritos the home match was an opportunity of facing a team set to compete in the Junior World Championship, World Rugby’s leading under 20 competition. Uruguay, in contrast, will compete at the lower tier competition, the Junior World Trophy which starts in April.
The Junior World Trophy will be played in Zimbabwe with Uruguay set to be one of the genuine contenders for the title. In 2015 Los Teritos finished in third position and the competition played in Portugal. During the competition Uruguay defeated both Fiji and Tonga.
Today’s win over Georgia is in stark contrast to their fixture in the 2015 Junior World Trophy. Georgia hammered Los Teritos 46-12 in the opening round and continued to deliver, going undefeated in the tournament.
