Uruguay silence Argentina XV to claim Nations Cup

Uruguay silenced the Argentina XV this evening to claim the Nations Cup. In doing so Los Teros successfully defended the trophy for a second year, making them three-time champions.

The match followed that of Russia vs Namibia. The Bears’ 20-0 win over Namibia saw them on 10 points in the Nations Cup. This meant that Uruguay would be champions with a win while the Argentina XV required a bonus point victory to claim the Nations Cup.

The Argentina XV had no shortage of talent. Yet today was not theirs and it did not take long for this to be apparent. In the 8th minute Martín Landajo had an attempted box-kick charged down with Manuel Leindekar scoring.

The rough start had a response as Martín Roger opened the Argentina XV’s account though a penalty. Uruguay then hit-back via a penalty from winger Federico Favaro.

Tries were hard to come by with the wet weather making for a ball which was difficult to maintain control of. With half time approaching the Argentina XV would cross through Santiago Portillo. But it would count for little as Uruguay would again respond straight-away, this time with Germán Kessler scoring from a line-out move.

The half-time equation was clear – Uruguay needed to remain in front while the Argentina XV had to up their game smartly. The latter were unable to do so as instead Kessler went over in the 44th minute for his second try.

With the third quarter over it was evident that Los Teros were on course for victory. The Argentina XV were outplayed with replacement Lucas Santa Cruz crossing in the 61st minute for their only points of the second half.

In the final minutes Uruguay calmly went about closing out the match. They would score once more with Favaro landing his third penalty of the match. With it a victory by 13 points was completed.

The match was the final fixture of the Nations Cup. For Uruguay it was the third of four home internationals this month. Their remaining game will be next Saturday at home against Spain.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 28
Tries – M. Leindekar (7′), G. Kessler 2 (40′, 44′)
Cons – F. Favaro 2/3 (8′, 40′)
Pens – F. Favaro 3/3 (20′, 28′, 75′)
Yellow cards – G. Kessler (32′), I. Dotti (56′), L. Segredo (66′)

ARGENTINA 15
Tries – S. Portillo (35′), L. Santa Cruz (60′)
Cons – M. Roger 1/2 (36′)
Pens – M. Roger 1/2 (18′)
Yellow cards – S. Montagner (40′)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Facundo Gattas (17 Mateo Sanguinetti 49′), 2 Germán Kessler (16 Guillermo Pujadas 76′), 3 Juan Echeverría (18 Juan Pedro Rombys 49′), 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Manuel Leindekar (19 Diego Magno 70′), 6 Manuel Ardao (20 Leandro Segredo 17′), 7  Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Agustín Ormaechea (21 Santiago Arata 65′), 10 Juan Manuel Cat, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Tomas Inciarte, 14 Federico Favaro (16 Guillermo Pujadas 32′-40′), 15 Rodrigo Silva

Not used: 22 Felipe Etcheverry, 23 Agustín Della Corte

ARGENTINA XV
1 Nicolás Solveyra (17 Rodrigo Martínez 49′), 2 Diego Fortuny (16 Leonel Oviedo 75′), 3 Martín Fernández Segurotti (18 Lucas Favre 65′), 4 Ignacio Calas (19 Franco Molina 46′), 5 Jerónimo Ureta (20 Lucas Santa Cruz 52′), 6 Santiago Montagner, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (capt.), 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Martín Landajo (21 Manuel Nogués 46′), 10 Martín Roger, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Lucas Mensa (22 Teo Castiglioni 70′), 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Bautista Ezcurra, 15 Facundo Cordero (23 Julián Domínguez 61′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

 

Attendance: 2,000