Portugal upset Uruguay in u20 contest

Portugal held out to claim an upset win over hosts Uruguay at the World Rugby u20 Trophy on Tuesday. The calamitous rainfall that plagued the previous match remained for the majority of the encounter, with players forced to tread over a surface that was more water than grass by the second half.

The opening try went to Portuguese captain António Vidinha, and it came quickly as a kick through skidded over the turf to stop in-goal. Vidinha was first to the ball for the touchdown with Jorge Abecasis adding the conversion.

Alejo Piazza replied with a penalty goal for Uruguay but things were not going their way and before the halftime whistle Portugal had scored twice more. The first was a strong run up the middle from Jose Luis Cabral for a second try, the second a routine penalty from Abecasis to make the score 17-3 at the break.

Neither team could string together many, if any, phases but Uruguay still had their vaunted scrum which proved exceptional once again. Piazza notched his second goal early in the second hald, and a penalty try was awarded with the Portuguese pack hurtling backwards in the 55th minute.

A mistake at the restart cost the Teritos dearly as Abecasis took three points to make the gap seven. Uruguay looked to have clawed back when Yamandú Arburúas crossed from close range but the conversion was off target and Portugal did just enough to escape with the win.

Uruguay will look to regroup before their difficult match against Fiji on Saturday. With a losing bonus point the Teritos aren’t out just yet but must defeat the Fijians if they are to have any hope of making the final. Portugal will attempt to carry their form against Hong Kong.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 18
Tries – Penalty try (55’), Y. Arburúas (63’)
Cons – A. Piazza 0/1
Pens – A. Piazza 2/2 (12’, 45’)

PORTUGAL 20
Tries – A. Vidinha (5’), J. Cabral (35’)
Cons – J. Abecasis 2/2 (6’, 36’)
Pens – J. Abecasis 2/3 (40’, 57’)
Yellow cards – M. Cardoso (55’), M. Picão (67′)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Agustín Sosa, 2 Yamandú Arburúas, 3 Guillermo Pujadas, 4 Joaquín García, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Juan Garese, 8 Santiago Civetta, 9 Juan Nicola, 10 Matías D’Avanzo, 11 Martín Fitipaldo, 12 Agustín Della Corte (capt.), 13 Manuel Portela, 14 Valentín Grille, 15 Alejo Piazza

Replacements: 16 Jaime Coll, 17 Reinaldo Piussi, 18 Matías Aboy, 19 Martín Darracq, 20 James McCubbin, 21 Juan Martín Cattivelli, 22 Juan Manuel Fernández

PORTUGAL
1 João Melo, 2 Nuno Mascarenhas, 3 José Maria Sarmento, 4 José Andrade, 5 Manuel Picão, 6 João Granate, 7 David Wallis, 8 Duarte Campos, 9 Martim Cardoso, 10 Jorge Abecasis, 11 António Vidinha (capt.), 12 José Luis Cabral, 13 Vasco Ribeiro, 14 Caetano Branco, 15 Manuel Pinto

Replacements: 16 Gonçalo Domingues, 17 Rúben Pimentel, 18 Tomás Pereira, 19 João Vital, 20 Duarte Azevedo, 21 Gonçalo Prazeres, 22 Frederico Filipe

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Stephen Copeman (HKRFU)
Assistants: Tasuku Kawahara (JRFU) & Caua Ricardo Santos (CBRu)