World Rugby Nations Cup – Day 1 Review

Day 1 of the World Rugby Nations Cup did not follow the script. The three sides entering as favorites all found themselves falling short. Opening day wins from Spain, Russia and hosts, Uruguay set up an exciting tournament.

NAMIBIA 13 vs 15 SPAIN
Saturday, Jun 10, 11:00, Montevideo

The Spanish Lions downed Namibia 15-13 to open the World Rugby Nations Cup. The triumph came in the second half with the Europeans playing the better rugby after the teams had been locked at 3-3 at half time.

Opening the scoring was Brad Linklater. The Spanish fullback’s early strike would be countered out by Theuns Kotzé on the stroke of half time. The Namibian fly half’s penalty brought an end to the opening half.

Namibia played the better rugby to open the second half. The Africans advanced at will, gaining easy meters. It culminated with the game’s opening try. Fullback Chrysander Botha finished off the team effort and added the conversion.

Following a series of substitutions Spain found their way over for a try of their own. Replacement Matt Foulds crossed for the 50th minute try. Linklater was off-target with the conversion.

A number of additional replacements followed from both teams before additional points were scored. Kotzé landed a 61st minute penalty to extend Namibia’s advantage. It would be their final score points for the Africans.

Spain responded immediately. A 63rd minute score from debutant Afa Tauli brought the teams level. Linklater then added the extras to put Spain ahead.

Late opportunities for both sides failed to produce points. With it Spain celebrated an important result. For the match Namibia had its top players. The lineup was, thereby, Namibia’s strongest side. The outcome will see Namibia losing rankings points. It is to also see Africa’s top side involved in Rugby World Cup qualifiers now requiring to lift their performances in remaining matches.

SCORING

NAMIBIA 13
Try: C Botha
Conversion: C Botha
Penalty: Kotzé (2)

SPAIN 15
Try: Foulds, Tauli
Conversion: Linklater
Penalty: Linklater

TEAMS

NAMIBIA
1 Casper Viviers, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 4 Mahepisa Tjeriko, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 6 Wian Conradie, 7 PJ van Lill, 8 Renaldo Bothma (capt.), 9 Eugene Jantjies, 10 Theuns Kotzé, 11 Johann Tromp, 12 Johan Deysel, 13 JC Greyling, 14 Lesley Klim, 15 Chrysander Botha

Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 AJ de Klerk, 18 Collen Smith, 19 Johan Retief, 20 Christo van der Merwe, 21 Damian Stevens, 22 Cliven Loubser, 23 Darryl de la Harpe

SPAIN
1 Jean-Baptiste Custoja, 2 Juan Anaya, 3 Jon Zabala, 4 Carlos Gavidi, 5 Victor Sánchez, 6 Gautier Gibouin, 7 Fred Quercy, 8 Jaime Nava (capt.), 9 Grégory Maiquez, 10 Dan Snee, 11 Jordi Jorba, 12 Andrea Rabago, 13 Ignacio Contardi, 14 Brice Labadie, 15 Brad Linklater

Replacements: 16 Fernando López, 17 Daniel Marrón, 18 Alberto Blanco, 19 Matt Foulds, 20 Lucas Guillaume, 21 Afa Tauli, 22 Emiliano Calle Rivas, 23 Federico Casteglioni

ARGENTINA XV 38 vs 39 RUSSIA
Saturday, June 10, 13;15, Montevideo

In game two the Argentina XV fell short against Russia. The South Americans started strongly before ultimately losing 39-38.

The Argentina XV started strongly. Tries to flanker Francisco Gorrisen and Juan Cappiello were separated by Russia scoring their opening points via a penalty.

Russia then scored their opening try, doing so from the most lucky of scenarios. With Los Pumas less than a meter out from Russia’s tryline the ball slipped out of a ruck to Denis Simplikevich. The winger graciously picked it up and ran 100 meters to score.

The Argentina XV could not believe their luck and failed to get over the shock until the second half. Russia, meanwhile, scored twice with Andrei Temnov and Konstantin Uzunov crossing to give Russia a 22-12 half time lead.

The Argentina XV opened the second half well. Center Cappiello scored for the second time, underining himself as the team’s best player of the match. Russia, looking to win, hit-back with Simplikevich scoring his second.

Enjoying the better of play, the South Americans  regained the lead. Tries from replacements props Facundo Gigena and Santiago Medrano in addition to one from center Bruno Devoto had the Argentina XV on course for victory.

With the lead the Argentina XV again hit relax and ultimately fell. Russia scored late tries through Alexei Mikhaltsov and Dmitri Krotov, the later coming in the final minute. The Argentina XV, though, had the chance to seal the win though fullback Martín Elías. His miss resulted in Russian celebrations.

SCORERS

ARGENTINA XV 38
Try: Gorrisen, Cappiello (2), Medrano, Devoto, Gigena
Conversion: Díaz Bonilla (3), Elías

RUSSIA 39
Try: Simplikevich (2), Temnov, Uzunov, Mikhaltsov, Krotov
Conversion: Kushnarev (3)
Penalty: Kushnarev

TEAMS

ARGENTINA XV
1 Franco Brarda, 2 Gaspar Baldunciel, 3 Cristian Bartoloni, 4 Juan Cruz Guillemaín, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (capt.), 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Segundo Tuculet, 12 Bruno Devoto, 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Julián Domínguez, 15 Fernando Luna

Replacements: 16 Roberto Tejerizo, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Santiago Portillo, 20 Santiago Montagner, 21 Lautaro Bazán, 22 Martín Elías, 23 Franco Cuaranta

RUSSIA
1 Andrei Polivalov, 2 Stanislav Selskiy, 3 Azamat Bitiev, 4 Dmitri Krotov, 5 Bogdan Fedotko, 6 Andrei Temnov, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 8 Anton Rudoi, 9 Konstantin Uzunov, 10 Yuri Kushnarev, 11 Alexei Mikhaltsov, 12 Dmitri Gerasimov, 13 Kirill Gubin, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 15 Vasili Artemiev (capt.)

Replacements: 16 Sergei Chernyshev, 17 Valeri Morozov, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Vladimir Suslov, 20 Viktor Gresev, 21 Alexei Shcherban, 22 Vladimir Rudenko, 23 Ramil Gaisin

URUGUAY 30 vs 21 EMERGING ITALY
Saturday, June 10, 15:30, Montevideo

In the day’s final match Uruguay completed a 30-21 win over Emerging Italy. No World Rankings points were up for grabs due to it being Italy’s ‘A’ side rather than test team.

Los Teros enjoyed a strong performance. Tries were scored by Santiago Arata, Juan Manuel Cat and Guillermo Lijtenstein. Also contributing points was fly half Germán Albanell. Italy also crossed for three tries, doing so through Filippo Buscema, George Iacob and Renato Giammarioli.

All of the matches six tries were converted. The difference between the teams was penalties. Uruguay kicked three while Emerging Italy scored none. Fly half Germán Albanell landed two and fullback Rodrigo Silva one. They enabled Uruguay to overturn a 14-13 half time lead in addition to ultimately winning in the end.

SCORING

URUGUAY 30
Try: Arata, Cat, Lijtenstein
Conversion: Albanell (2), Silva
Penalty: Albanell (2), Silva

EMERGING ITALY 21
Try: Buscema, Iacob, Giammarioli
Conversion: Azzolini (2), Mantelli

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Diego Magno, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Gonzalo Soto, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Germán Albanell, 11 Leandro Leivas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Gastón Gibernau, 15 Rodrigo Silva

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Mateo Sanguinetti, 18 Mario Sagario, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Alejandro Nieto, 21 Santiago Hernández, 22 Guillermo Lijtenstein, 23 Agustín Della Corte

EMERGING ITALY
1 Derrick Appiah, 2 Engjel Makelara, 3 George Iacob, 4 Samuele Ortis, 5 Leonard Krumov, 6 Matteo Corazzi, 7 Sebastian Negri (capt.), 8 Renato Giammarioli, 9 Simone Marinaro, 10 Maicol Azzolini, 11 Marco Susio, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 13 Andrea Bettin, 14 Pierre Bruno, 15 Filippo Buscema

Replacements: 16 Adriano Daniele, 17 Niccolò Zago, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 Davide Fragnito, 20 Mirko Amenta, 21 Leonardo Mantelli, 22 Pietro Gregorio, 23 Giacomo De Santis