Having suffered a 40-0 hammering against Romania Uruguay recovered this afternoon to defeat Spain in the final round of the World Rugby Nations Cup in Bucharest.
The Nations Cup triumph was not one for the record books. The contested match was a deadlock at half time with neither country having troubled the scorers. The better team had been Spain who were unable to convert opportunities into points.
Los Leones were made to pay as adjustments to the scrum saw Los Teros controlling play in the second half. Tries through captain Juan Gaminara and a penalty try gave Uruguay a clear advantage, and now which was to much for Spain to overcome.
Both tries were converted by fly half Martín Secco, giving Uruguay a 16-0 lead which is how the scores would remain until the final whistle.
In having won by 14 or over Uruguay is set to gain rankings points in the updated World Rankings which are to be posted on the World Rugby website on Monday.
The low will be doubly tough on Spain who had led Namibia until the final play of the match before losing to Africa’s second best country.
SCORERS
URUGUAY
Try: Gaminara, Penalty Try
Conversion: Secco
SPAIN
N/A
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Mario Sagario, 4 Franco Lamanna, 5 Ignacio Dotti, 6 Juan Gaminara (capt.), 7 Gonzalo Campomar, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Guillermo Lijtenstein, 10 Martín Secco, 11 Federico Favaro, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Nicolás Freitas, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Rodrigo Silva
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Diego Arbelo, 18 Ignacio Secco, 19 Diego Ayala, 20 Matías Beer, 21 Pedro Deal, 22 Santiago Arata, 23 Santiago Martinez
SPAIN
1 Fernando Martín López Perez, 2 Juan Anaya Lazaro, 3 Jesus Moreno Rodriguez, 4 Álvaro Nuñez, 5 Javier De Juan, 6 Asier Usarraga, 7 Del Valle, 8 Jaime Nana (Capt.), 9 Facundo Munilla, 10 Jaime Mata, 11 Iorba Jorge, 12 Thibaut Álvarez, 13 Contardi, 14 Julien Goia Iriberri, 15 Sergi Aubanell
Replacements: 16 Pablo Gutierrez, 17 Daniel Marrón, 18 Michael Dallery, 19 Pablo Gill, 20 Florian Muñoz Rivero, 21 Alvaro Abril, 22 Sánchez, 23 Rafael De Santiago