Uruguay impress at home against Russia

Uruguay impressed at Home against Russia, winning 48-26 this afternoon. The Nations Cup match served as valuable preparation for RWC 2019 which is to be the first RWC ever to involve both countries.

Uruguay were the better side and this was reflected not only in the points scored but also in the tries. Los Teros outscored the Bears by seven tries to four. Running in a double was Nicolás Freitas while Evgeny Matveev did even better for Russia, scoring a hat-trick.

The match started with a bang. Right from the kick-off Uruguay were on the front-foot as Russia failed to take the kick cleanly. The result was ball for Uruguay meters out and a try to hooker Germán Kessler within the opening minute.

Federico Favaro slotted the conversion but Russia would have fortune from the following kick-off. The deep kick was not gathered and Russia would get the ball within the Uruguayan 22. Hooker Evgeny Matveev capitalized scoring in the 5th minute. Yuri Kushnarev’s conversion made it 7-7.

Neither Uruguay nor Russia were at full-strength though the bulk of both teams are expected to travel to Japan for RWC 2019. One such player is Uruguay’s Nicolás Freitas who, normally a winger, played out of position at outside center. His first try came from inside his own half with Manuel Diana breaking from a scrum, linking with Andrés Vilaseca and Freitas then on hand to finish it off.

The 12th minute score from Freitas would be followed by another in the 20th. While his first was a support try involving speed his second was a 10 meter run with him getting through a tackle.

Trailing 19-5 Russia hit-back only for Uruguay to add their 4th. Scoring was flanker and captain Juan Manuel Gaminara. It would be converted by Favaro who would then land a 39th minute penalty to end the scoring in the opening half. With it Uruguay led Russia 29-12.

A quiet third quarter changed in the 55th minute when intercept magician Andrés Vileseca furthered his reputation. Swooping on an inaccurate pass he turned a Russian attack into a try for flanker Santiago Civetta.

The try was cancelled out by Russia who demonstrated the level of their maul to score from a set-piece lineout. The 57th minute try to Matveev would be followed by another set-piece score just three minutes later. Scoring this time was winger Kirill Golosnitskiy who sliced through cleanly following a lineout move.

With one quarter of play remaining the game was there for the taking. Uruguay’s lapse had seen the lead cut to seven points and it would remain as such for a further ten minutes. The injection of the most capped Uruguayan in history, Diego Magno, would swing the game back in favor of Los Teros.

Magno’s 72nd minute score would be followed by one further try, this time via Juan Echeverría. The late scores saw the final scoreline tilted further in Uruguay’s favor though this was Los Teros’ match as they impressed to deserve the result.

Both teams will play again on Sunday. Russia will take on the Argentina XV in a non-capped international while Uruguay will host Namibia in  a match with further World Rankings on the line.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 48
Tries – G. Kessler (1′), N. Freitas 2 (13′, 20′), J. Gaminara (34′), S. Civetta (55′), D. Magno (72′), J. Echeverría (78′)
Cons – F. Favaro 5/7 (2′, 21′, 35′, 56′, 73′)
Pens – F. Favaro 1/1 (40′)

RUSSIA 26
Tries – E. Matveev 3 (5′, 26′, 58′), K. Golosnitskiy (61′)
Cons – Y. Kushnarev 1/2 (6′), R. Gaisin 2/2 (59′, 62′)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (17 Facundo Gattas 73′), 2 Germán Kessler (16 Guillermo Pujadas 73′), 3 Juan Pedro Rombys (18 Juan Echeverría 66′), 4 Gonzalo Soto Mera (19 Diego Magno 59′), 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.) (21 Manuel Ardao 73′), 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana (20 Alejandro Nieto 56′), 9 Tomás Inciarte (22 Santiago Arata 59′), 10 Juan Manuel Cat, 11 Rodrigo Silva (23 Juan Pablo Costabile 73′), 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Nicolás Freitas, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 Felipe Etcheverry

RUSSIA
1 Andrei Polivalov (17 Evgeny Mishechkin 59′), 2 Evgeny Matveev (16 Sergei Chernyshev 59′), 3 Kirill Gotovtsev (18 Vladimir Podrezov 68′), 4 Evgeny Elgin (19 Alexander Ilin 59′), 5 Bogdan Fedotko, 6 Patris Peki (20 Roman Khodin 59′), 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 8 Viktor Gresev, 9 Dmitri Perov (21 Vasili Dorofeev 59′), 10 Yuri Kushnarev (22 Ramil Gaisin 54′), 11 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 12 Dmitri Gerasimov (23 Vladislav Sozonov 59′), 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 14 German Davydov, 15 Vasili Artemiev (capt.)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

 

Attendance: 1,200