Uruguay XV pushed by spirited Colombia in Montevideo

The Uruguay XV were pushed by Colombia in Montevideo this evening. Los Tucanes put in a  brave performance in going down to a 38-24 defeat, a far closer result than expected.

The fixture was the first time that the teams had met in Uruguay, and just the second time overall. The prior occasion was in the 2018 Sudamérica 6 Naciones A in which the Uruguay XV were 26-5 winners over Colombia in Medellín.

While the Uruguay XV is officially the national next senior XV, the team is not strictly made-up of wider roster options. Among those facing Colombia was Federico Favaro, a player expected to go to RWC 2019. He would score the opening points and convert his own try.

Finding the way to the try line would prove complex as Colombia’s defense was able to fend off opportunities. Yet the Uruguay XV would find the means of getting over the line. Their second score came from a snipe from scrum-half Tomás Inciarte who offloaded from the floor to fullback Felipe Etcheverry.

Inciarte would threaten again shortly thereafter. Yet a loose ball led to Colombia running the ball out from their own goal-line. They would get out of their own 22 before losing control from which the Uruguay XV captain Juan Diego Ormaechea would score.

Colombia’s error would not see them stop trying. Indeed they would succeed in getting one back as fullback Arley Urrutia ran in.

With half-time approaching the Uruguay XV went over for their 4th. Scoring under the posts was Favaro who would also land the conversion to make it a 28-7 ball game and give himself 18 opening half points.

Los Tucanes came out of half-time raring to go. Regular captain José Manuel Diosa was injected from the bench and would immediately leave his mark. Linking with fly half Andrés Alvarez, Diosa would receive an inside ball and get past two defenders to score.

The impact from the bench was not restricted to Diosa. Scoring next was Cristian Rodallegas who sent a shock warning to the Uruguay XV that they had a game on their hands. With Colombia also landing a penalty the try remarkably brought the scores to 28-24.

Getting the Uruguay XV over the finish line was flanker come hooker Manuel Ardao. Two late tries from the 20-year-old would be be the only points from the home side in the second half and see off a spirited Colombia.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 38
Tries – F. Favaro 2 (4′, 38′), F. Etcheverry (17′), J. Ormaechea (26′), M. Ardao 2 (74′, 80′)
Cons – F. Favaro 4/5 (5′, 18′, 27′, 39′), M. D’Avanzo 0/1
Yellow cards – D. Arbelo (59′)

COLOMBIA 24
Tries – A. Urrutia (29′), J. Diosa (42′), G. Carvajal (62′)
Cons – S. Giraldo 1/1 (30′), J. Diosa 2/2 (43′, 63′)
Pens – S. Giraldo 0/1, J. Diosa 1/1 (70′)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY XV
1 Joaquín Juansolo (18 Santiago Bonasso 70′), 2 Guillermo Pujadas (16 Manuel Ardao 48′), 3 Faustino Etchegorry (19 Diego Arbelo 46′), 4 Felipe Aliaga (20 Gonzalo Soto Mera 63′), 5 Juan Garese, 6 Leandro Segredo (3 Faustino Etchegorry 61′-69′), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea (capt.) (17 Santiago Nicolich 75′), 8 Santiago Civetta, 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Manuel Blengio (22 Matías D’Avanzo 63′), 11 Juan Pablo Costabile, 12 Agustín Della Corte, 13 Alfonso Costa (23 Felipe Arcos Pérez 52′), 14 Federico Favaro, 15 Felipe Etcheverry (21 Tomás Ubilla 75′)

COLOMBIA
1 Mauricio Espinal (18 Carlos Angulo 49′), 2 Diego Posada (capt.) (16 Yani Pérez 63′), 3 Andrés Arango (17 Brayhan Pérez 49′), 4 Danny Giraldo, 5 Santiago Mejía (20 Julián Velandia 75′), 6 Nicolás Cadavid (19 Jhon Carlos Álvarez 11′), 7 Diver Ceballos, 8 Gerson Ortiz (20 Julián Velandia 12′-18′), 9 Julián Navarro, 10 Andrés Álvarez, 11 Juan Sebastián Giraldo, 12 Cristian Rodallegas (22 Geovanny Carvajal 46′), 13 Juan Dávila (21 Johan Ortiz 75′), 14 Brayan Guzmán (23 José Manuel Diosa HT), 15 Arley Urrutia

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Frank Méndez (FERUCHI)