History Made as Uruguay Qualify for Paris 2024 Olympics

History was made in Montevideo on Sunday. Los Teros won the South American Men’s 7’s to book their place at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It will be Los Teros 7’s first appearance at the Olympic Games.  Uruguay join neighbors Argentina who qualified by finishing second on the World Sevens circuit.

Uruguay defeated Chile in the final. The 12-5 victory was achieved in front of home supporters at the Estadio Charrúa. Among those in attendance was Uruguayan President Luis Lacale Pou who is a former rugby player himself.

Uruguay had been given a tough match bu Chile on Saturday. Los Cóndores 7’s saw that the match went down to the wire. Uruguay won 14-12 in part of an unbeaten run in the round-robin section of the tournament.

In the final, Chilean ill-discipline saw spaces opening up for Uruguay. Los Cóndores lost one player in each half to a yellow card. James McCubbin opened the scoring. The Uruguayan scored under the posts. Veteran Guillermo Litjenstein landed the conversion. Uruguay then went 12-0 up with a try in the left corner to Diego Ardao.

The interval helped Chile. Diego Warnken broke two tackles to score for Los Cóndores. The conversion was unsuccessful. Neither team scored again. Uruguay focused on playing out the remainder of the match and were able to do so.

While Uruguay have joined Argentina in sealing a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, there may yet be a third South American competitor involved. In reaching the final, Chile ensured a spot in repechage.

Brazil will also compete in repechage. Os Tupis overcame Colombia in the Bronze Final. It was a highly competitive meeting. Colombia started strongly to lead 14-0. Brazil hit-back to level and send the game into sudden death. Brazil then won to break Colombian hearts. The outcome is that Brazil join Chile in repechage.

Six of the twelve places at the 2024 Paris Olympics have now been confirmed. Uruguay join Argentina, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and hosts France. A qualifier from Europe will be confirmed next weekend. Attention will turn to North America in August.

DAY ONE RESULTS – MEN’S
Brazil 36 –07 Colombia
Chile 31 –0 Paraguay
Uruguay 55–0 Peru
Chile 19-5 Brazil
Uruguay 24–0 Colombia
Paraguay 12–10 Peru
Peru 12-0 Colombia
Brazil 26–5 Paraguay
Uruguay 14-12 Chile

DAY TWO FIXTURES – MEN’S
Colombia 17-14 Paraguay
Uruguay 27-7 Brazil
Chile 40-0 Peru
Chile 50-0 Colombia
Uruguay 43-7 Paraguay
Brazil 68-0 Peru
5th Place Final: Peru 26-24 Paraguay
Bronze Final: Brazil 19-14 Colombia (Sudden Death)
Final: Uruguay 12-5 Chile