Ulster defeat Uruguay in rain-soaked Belfast

Uruguay were greeted by typical Belfast weather on Friday as they took on Ulster at Kingspan Stadium in the second match of their European tour. The rain died down somewhat by kickoff but the water-logged pitch made for difficult conditions, the final score reading Ulster 21, Uruguay 5.

Los Teros suffered a major blow when star hooker Germán Kessler was forced to retire with injury just moments after kickoff. Manuel Ardao came on as a replacement and with only a handful of minutes in the front row under his belt as he looks to switch from flanker, the set piece struggled to gain a footing against a committed and cohesive home pack.

Adam McBurney touched down twice at the back of driving mauls to give Ulster a commanding 14-0 lead through the opening quarter. Under severe pressure at the set piece, Los Teros got a break when McBurney was sent to the bin for a cynical penalty. The overlap nearly paid off but for Leandro Leivas to drop a long Felipe Berchesi pass with the tryline at his mercy.

Uruguay were themselves forced to play shorthanded when Ignacio Dotti was shown yellow for repeat team infringements. The home side took full advantage with Marcus Rea tearing away from the back of a maul to reach the line for try number three.

To their credit Los Teros stayed in the game and would get on the scoreboard before the final whistle. Ardao was found loitering on the wing and the would-be hooker showed a tremendous burst of speed. He was stopped just short but somehow managed to offload and Gastón Mieres was there in support for a well-deserved try.

Next up for Uruguay is a neutral-venue clash against Fiji at Gillman’s Ground in Hartpury. They will hope for better weather and assess Kessler before deciding whether to bring in a replacement to shore up the thinning front row stocks.

SCORING

ULSTER 21
Tries – A. McBurney 2 (13’, 17’), Mar. Rea (54’)
Cons – J. McPhillips 3/3 (14’, 18’, 55’)
Yellow cards – A. McBurney (34’)

URUGUAY 5
Tries – G. Mieres (71’)
Cons – F. Berchesi 0/1
Yellow cards – I. Dotti (51’)

TEAMS

ULSTER
1 Schalk van der Merwe, 2 Adam McBurney (capt.), 3 Tom O’Toole, 4 Matthew Rea, 5 Alex Thompson, 6 Joe Dunleavy, 7 Marcus Rea, 8 Greg Jones, 9 Jonny Stewart, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 11 Angus Kernohan, 12 James Hume, 13 Stewart Moore, 14 Iwan Hughes, 15 Bruce Houston

Replacements: 16 Zack McCall, 17 Corrie Barrett, 18 Peter Cooper, 19 JJ McKee, 20 David McCann, 21 Ben McCaughey, 22 Graham Curtis, 23 Michael Stronge, 24 Clayton Milligan

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Rombys, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Magno, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Gastón Mieres, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Rodrigo Silva

Replacements: 16 Manuel Ardao, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Manuel Leindekar, 20 Manuel Diana, 21 Leandro Segredo, 22 Tomás Iniciarte, 23 Agustín Della Corte, 24 Federico Favaro

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Robert O’Sullivan (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Jonny Erskine (Ireland) & Chris Busby (Ireland)
TMO: David Wilkinson (Ireland)

Attendance: 2,500