Peñarol secure hard-fought win over Cobras

Peñarol secured a hard-fought victory today over Os Cobras Brasil XV. The win gives Peñarol a 2-0 start to the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby. The Brazilian side presently has a 0-1 record.

Peñarol started strongly. Center Felipe Arcos Pérez crossed for an early try. His fifth minute score game on the back of an advancing scrum. Argentine Martín Roger added the conversion.

Os Cobras hit-back quickly. Scrum-half Laurent Bourda-Couhet scored the first try for a Brazilian franchise in SLAR. He did so by providing support to Daniel Lima. The Brazilian test winger fooled the defense before linking with try scorer Bourda-Couhet. Josh Reeves’s conversion attempt was off.

Peñarol went 10-5 ahead on the 14 minute mark. Roger landed his first of four penalties for the match. He added his second in the 26th minute. Meanwhile, Reeves was missing his attempts. Moisés Duque replaced Reeves as the goal-kicker late in the first half.

Duque landed his first attempt. It was a conversion for Os Cobras’ second try. The score saw Argentina u20 lock crashing over. The 38th minute score was on the back of pressure and a series of raids from the Brazilian team. With the conversion Os Cobras held a 13-12 lead.

The try and lead celebrations were short-lived; Peñarol hit-back instantly. Replacement hooker Facundo Gattas barged his way over for the Uruguayans. His try after the 40th minute mark came from a rolling maul. Os Cobras had no answer to the attacking weapon. Roger added the conversion.

Os Cobras started the second half well. Duque made a clever break, only to lack support when it was required. The first score went the way of Roger. His accurate kicking was in contrast to Os Cobras’ starting fly half. Also of note was discipline. Os Cobras were their own worst enemies at times.

Roger’s final penalty came in the 57th minute. Peñarol put the result beyond doubt nine minutes later. A try to Mateo Viñals gave Peñarol a 33-12 lead in the 66th minute. Nicolás Freitas landed the conversion.

Os Cobras crossed for two late conversions. Argentine Franco Guidice made a break and went with in range of scoring. The Brazilian Matt Giteau, Moisés Duque was in support when needed to score. He converted his own try and then converted a fortunate try scored minutes later by André Arruda.

SLAR continues on Thursday. Round three action will see Os Cobras taking on the Olímpia Lions and Peñarol will be up against Los Cafeteros Pro. Both Os Cobras and Peñarol will be targeting their respective matches as must-win encounters.

SCORING

COBRAS (24)
Try: Bourda-Couhet 10′, Bernstein 38′, Duque 75′, Arruda 80′
Conversion: Duque 38′, 80′
Yellow Card: Rosetti 26′

PEÑAROL (33)
Try: Arcos Pérez 5′, Gattas 40′, Viñals 66′
Conversion: Roger 2 (5′ 40′), Freitas 67′
Penalty: Roger 4 (14′, 26′, 49′, 57′)

COBRAS
1 Caique Silva, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Alejandro Luna, 4 Gabriel Paginini, 5 Manuel Bernstein, 6 Cléber Días, 7 Matheus Claúdio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Laurent Bourda-Couhet, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Robert Tenorio, 15 Daniel Sancery

Replacements: 16 Leonardo Souza, 17 Brendon Alves, 18 Román González, 19 Adrio de Melo, 20 Arthur Bergo, 21 Felipe Gonçalves, 22 Franco Guidice, 23 Lucas Spago

PEÑAROL
1 Juan Echeverría, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Juan Garese, 5 Nahuel Milán, 6 Carlos Deus, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Manuel Nogúes, 10 Martín Roger, 11 Baltazar Amaya, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Juan Manuel Alonso, 15 José Maria Iruleguy

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Diego Arbelo, 18 Matías Benítez, 19 Felipe Aliaga, 20 Eric Dosantos, 21 Santiago Alvarez, 22 Nicolás Freitas, 23 Mateo Viñals