Historic win for Uruguay in Romania

Uruguay wrote history today, claiming a first-ever win over Romania. The 27-20 victory came on full-time with replacement Agustín Ormaechea scoring an intercept try.

Played at the Ghencea Sports Complex in Bucharest an evenly-fought contest saw both teams having the upper hand at different times. Ultimately fortunate would favor the brave as Los Teros added a further scalp to their year.

Opening the scoring in Bucharest was the home side. Fly half Daniel Plai did so with a penalty. It came despite Uruguay having been busy in the contact-area early on and starting strongly.

Uruguay looked to hit-back immediately. They would go close to scoring through center Andrés Vilaseca. It came following a break from star scrum-half Santiago Arata but would finish with a knock-on.

Meanwhile, not he scoreboard Romania’s 3-0 lead would become 10-0. A long-range kick saw Ionel Melinde gathering and getting past Leandro Leivas for the score.

Uruguay opened their scoring after 24 minutes. The ever-patient Felipe Berchesi would cut the deficit to seven points though Romania would quickly cancel it out through a Plai penalty.

A second Berchesi penalty would see Uruguay remaining in touch with Romania. With half-time approaching the Eastern Europeans were 13-6 ahead only for Andrés Vilaseca to level the scores with an intercept try.

In the second half Uruguay would again impress early on. Following sustained raids a try would eventually come. It resulted in a penalty try which saw Los Teros leading 20-13 with fifteen minutes remaining.

A late scare saw Ignacio Dotti yellow carded. The 72nd minute offense meant Uruguay would finish the match with 14 men.

Romania looked to their pack to benefit and would succeed, with Constantin Pristavita scoring from a rolling-maul. It brought the scores back to level and saw Romania looking like being in a winning position as they were one man up.

In the final play of the match Uruguay would write history. Veteran scrum-half Agustín Ormaechea was the hero with the replacement scoring an intercept to finish a 27-20 win.

Uruguay previous best result was a 21-21 draw in Montevideo in 2010. That match was a RWC 2011 qualifier. Los Teros’ win today sees them completing their international competition for the year. They next play on February 02 against Canada in the Americas Rugby Championship.

 

SCORING

ROMANIA 20
Tries – I. Melinte (17′), C. Pristavia (73′)
Cons – D. Plai 1/1 (18′), F. Vlaicu 1/1 (74′)
Pens – D. Plai 2/2 (6′, 31′)
Yellow cards – F. Surugiu (54′), V. Zaharia (63′)

URUGUAY 27
Tries – A. Vilaseca (40′), Penalty try (63′), A. Ormaechea (80′)
Cons – F. Berchesi 2/2 (40′, 80′)
Pens – F. Berchesi 2/2 (26′, 38′)
Yellow cards – I. Dotti (72′)

 

TEAMS

ROMANIA
1 Ionel Badiu (17 Alexandru Savin 66′), 2 Eugen Capatana (16 Florin Bardasu 61′), 3 Alex Gordas (18 Constantin Pristavita 48′), 4 Adrian Motoc, 5 Marian Drenceanu, 6 Adrian Ion (20 Razvan Ilisescu 53′), 7 Mihai Macovei (capt.), 8 Cristi Chirica, 9 Florin Surugiu, 10 Daniel Plai, 11 Ionut Dumitru (23 Alexandru Bucur 61′), 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 13 Vladut Popa (22 Florin Vlaicu 68′), 14 Vladut Zaharia, 15 Ionel Melinte

Not used: 19 Johan van Heerden, 21 Tudorel Bratu

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Facundo Gattas, 3 Juan Rombys (18 Juan Echeverría 22′), 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea (21 Leandro Segredo 55′), 8 Alejandro Nieto (20 Manuel Diana 71′), 9 Santiago Arata (22 Agustín Ormaechea 55′), 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Gastón Mieres, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat (23 Joaquín Prada 61′), 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Rodrigo Silva

Not used: 16 Manuel Ardao, 17 Matías Benítez, 19 Diego Magno

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Assistants: Craig Maxwell-Keys (RFU) & Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)