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Colombia made a massive statement in Medellín today in humbling Paraguay 43-13. The record-breaking victory was the second by Los Tucanes over Los Yákares and comes seven months after the historic 44-29 win in the Americas Rugby Challenge.
Colombia’s home win today was hard fought. It saw Los Tucanes converting a 12-6 half-time lead into a dominant 30 point victory.
In the early goings the rugby was physical and highly competitive. Colombia were rocked by an early indiscretion which saw prop Yani Pérez yellow carded in just the 7th minute
Despite playing with seven forwards the Colombians would not be out muscled. To the contrary they would rebound quickly and Juan Dávila would capitalize scoring in the 10th minute.
Dávila was not done though and when he scored his second try in the 25th minute Colombia gained the clear advantage for the first time in the match. Unlike the opening try the second was converted with captain José Manuel Diosa on target.
In between Dávila’s double Paraguay got on the board. They did so via the boot of right winger Marcelo Matiauda. He would add a second penalty to end the scoring in the opening half and with it Colombia led by six points at the interval.
Paraguay had plenty of first half possession but were unable to capitalize. It would prove costly in the second half as Los Tucanes took total control running in four tries to one.
The second half scoring began in the 43rd minute through speedster Arley Urrutia. Playing at home in Antioquia he went over for a 43rd minute score. It would be the only try of the second quarter as the teams fought tooth and nail defensively.
In the final quarter the game opened up. The first score was world class as Colombia scored a set-piece try usually associated with a Tier 1 team. From 40 meters out Los Tucanes would win their own ball and spin in-field. a clean-break saw replacement Julián Navarro through and over.
Paraguay hit-back through fullback Horacio Agüero. His score would be the highlight of the match for Los Yákares and would be well converted by Matiauda from a challenging angle.
Captain Diosa got the game back on track for Colombia as he scored and converted his own 69th minute try. Then three minutes from full-time Diosa landed a drop-goal as the crowd erupted with applause. With one minute remaining their was room for a final score as Diver Ceballos went under the posts to secure a 30 point victory.
Both teams now turn their attention to next Saturday. Los Tucanes will be playing against the Uruguay XV in Montevideo while Paraguay have a home test match against Chile in Asunción.
SCORING
COLOMBIA 43
Tries – J. Davila 2 (9′, 25′), A. Urrutia (43′), J. Navarro (60′), J. Diosa (70′), D. Ceballos (80′)
Cons – J. Diosa 5/6 (26′, 44′, 61′, 71′, 80′)
Drop goals – J. Diosa 1/1 (78′)
Yellow cards – Y. Pérez (6′)
PARAGUAY 13
Tries – H. Agüero (67′)
Cons – M. Matiauda 1/1 (68′)
Pens – M. Matiauda 2/2 (19′, 36′)
Yellow cards – G. Navas (50′)
TEAMS
COLOMBIA
1 Yani Pérez (17 Mauricio Espinal HT), 2 Diego Posada (16 Jorge Álvarez 50′), 3 Andrés Arango (18 Brayhan Pérez 50′), 4 Santiago Mejía (19 Nicolás Cadavid 50′), 5 Jhon Carlos Alvarez, 6 Danny Giraldo (17 Mauricio Espinal 6′-16′) (20 Arturo Contreras 68′), 7 Diver Ceballos, 8 Gerson Ortiz, 9 Alejo Vanegas (21 Julián Navarro HT), 10 Andrés Álvarez, 11 Neider García, 12 Geovanny Carvajal (23 Cristian Rodallegas 62′), 13 Juan Dávila, 14 Arley Urrutia (22 Juan Sebastián Giraldo 65′), 15 José Manuel Diosa (capt.)
PARAGUAY
1 Santiago Cabrera (18 Enrique Quinteros HT), 2 Emilio Gorostiaga (capt.) (16 Daniel Cabral 62′), 3 Joaquín Vera (17 Camilo Blasco 47′), 4 Mario Bravo (20 Miguel González 54′), 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Enrique Riera (19 Ariel Nuñez 48′), 7 Marcos Riquelme, 8 Carlos Plate, 9 Eymard Brizuela (21 Gastón Navas 44′), 10 Joaquín Auge (22 Sergio Alvarenga 58′), 11 Diego Argaña (23 Santiago Alamo 58′), 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Gonzalo Berdejo, 14 Marcelo Matiauda, 15 Horacio Agüero
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Santiago Romero (URU)
