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Uruguay continued their fine form at the Americas Pacific Challenge with a 33-18 win over the USA Select XV in Montevideo on Wednesday. The result propels the hosts back into the overall lead in the tournament and sets up a winner-take-all final against Samoa on Sunday.
The two kickers exchanged penalties in the opening minutes with Dylan Audsley on target first, followed closely by Federico Favaro. Audsley would be next to the draw but it wouldn’t be until the half-hour mark before the first try was scored.
It would come with Uruguay down a man after Mateo Sanguinetti was binned for a cheap shot on Psalm Wooching in a maul. As it was against Canada however, the Uruguayan scrum was too strong. With center Andrés Vilaseca asked to play flanker the South Americans had no trouble driving ahead and scrumhalf Santiago Arata took it upon himself to finish it off.
A magnificent team score would come shortly after. Vilaseca ran a hard line off a scrum and offloaded to Joaquín Prada. Matyas was there to make the cover tackle but there was space out wide and Andrés De León’s inch-perfect kick landed in Favaro’s hands for the try.
With their offense sputtering the USA got a break just before the intermission. Ryan Matyas picked out a prop in the defensive line and showed Juan Rombys a clean pair of heels before stepping on the afterburners and rounding De León to make the corner in a marvelous individual effort.
Favaro landed a penalty early in the second half, again resulting from a scrum, but the USA responded with a try. This time it was Audsley who picked out a front rower, dancing around Germán Kessler and in under the posts for a seven-pointer.
That would be the final say for the USA, however. Favaro sent over a third penalty and there was time for two more tries from the home team. Arata scored his second on a near carbon-copy of his first from a driving scrum. Vilaseca then closed out the game with a long-range score following a line beak from Ignacio García.
The title is now within Uruguay’s grasp. With the bonus point a draw against Samoa on Sunday will be good enough for the win. For the USA the last chance for a win will be against a formidable opponent – the Argentina XV.
SCORING
URUGUAY 33
Tries – S. Arata 2 (30’, 72’), F. Favaro (35’), A. Vilaseca (80’)
Cons – F. Favaro 2/4 (31’, 73’)
Pens – F. Favaro 3/3 (7’, 44’, 56’)
Yellow cards – M. Sanguinetti (24’)
USA 18
Tries – R. Matyas (40’), D. Audsley (46’)
Cons – D. Audsley 1/2 (47’)
Pens – D. Audsley 2/2 (4’, 19’)
Drop goals – C. Kearns 0/1
TEAMS
URUGUAY ‘A’
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Rombys, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Ayala, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Andrés De León, 11 Federico Favaro, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Joaquín Prada, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Manuel Blengio
Replacements: 16 Manuel Ardao, 17 Guillermo Pujadas, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Alejandro Nieto, 20 Diego Magno, 21 Joaquín Alonso, 22 Ignacio García, 23 Tomás Inciarte
USA SELECT XV
1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Alex Maughan, 3 John Hayden, 4 Brendan Daly, 5 Nate Brakeley, 6 Psalm Wooching, 7 Vili Toluta’u, 8 Hanco Germishuys, 9 Devereaux Ferris, 10 JP Eloff, 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 Anthony Salaber, 13 Dylan Audsley, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 Conor Kearns (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Pat O’Toole, 17 Angus MacLellan, 18 Cam Falcon, 19 Taylor Krumrei, 20 Matt Jensen, 21 Thomas Robles, 22 Holden Yungert, 23 Mitch Wilson
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Shuhei Kubo (JRFU)
Assistants: Gonzalo Ventoso (URU) & AN Other
