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Uruguay will take an upperhand to the World Cup against Namibia. Los Teros were 26-18 winners over the African country on Saturday in Montevideo. The result gives Uruguay confidence ahead of the repeat fixture at the World Cup. Before then, Uruguay take-on the Argentina XV next weekend at home.
Uruguay were dominant early on. Los Teros were far superior in general play and at the set-piece. Tries seemed inevitable and two came. Captain Andrés Vilaseca joined a maul to score the first while N8 Carlos Deus scored from a pick-and-go.
The South Americans were 12-0 ahead and looking dangerous. The second try coincided with Namibia losing fullback Divan Roussouw to a yellow card. No further points came despite the one-man advantage for Uruguay. Indeed, Uruguay also lost Felipe Arcos Pérez to a yellow card.
Namibia opened their scoring with a penalty. The 37th minute strike was followed by a try. Uruguay were guilty of poor defense; Bautista Basso tried to pull a jersey rather than make a contact tackle. The weak attempted tackle saw an easy break and Roussouw was over in the corner. Suddenly there was a contest on the scoresheet with Uruguay leading 12-8 at half-time.
The second-half saw Namibia starting very well. Major League Rugby (MLR) champion Wian Conradie went over as Uruguay’s defense again did not look sharp. The try was unconverted by Namibia were 13-12 ahead.
Namibia’s lead flattered their performance. Uruguay were cross with themselves and worked their way back in response. Arcos Pérez made amends for his yellow card. He returned to make a clean break and score. Zuccarino provided a new pass for his center. Zuccarino landed the conversion was a wide angle.
Zuccarino was also showing his worth around the field. He put a kick through for Bautista Basso who gathered and fed replacement Diego Ardao to score on his test debut. Ardao had only been on the field for 2 minutes.
Danco Burger had the last say. The African center added spice to the final minutes with a try nine minutes before full-time. The try again caught out the Uruguayan back-three. The defense in this area was substandard. Had it been as good as Uruguay’s general performance then at least two of Namibia’s tries would certainly not have occurred.
Namibia now make the trip to Chile. The Africans face Los Cóndores next weekend. Meanwhile, Uruguay turn their attention to the Argentina XV. The uncapped match will be the last warm-up fixture for the country that qualified for RWC 2023 as Americas 1.
SCORING
URUGUAY (26)
Try – A Vilaseca (15’); C Deus (28’); F Arcos Pérez (48’); D Ardao (63’)
Con – JA Zuccarino 2/3 (16’, 49’); A Ormaechea 1/1 (64’)
YC – F Arcos Pérez (37’)
NAMIBIA (18)
Try – D Roussouw (39’); W Conradie (42’); D Burger (71’)
Con – T Swanepoel 0/2
Pen – T Swanepoel 1/2 (37’)
YC – D Roussouw (28’)
TEAMS
URUGUAY
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Eric Dosantos, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Carlos Deus, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 10 Juan Andrés Zuccarino, 11 Ignacio Facciolo, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Bautista Basso, 15 Rodrigo Silva
Replacements: 16 Germán Kessler, 17 Mateo Sanguinetti, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Juan Tafernaberry, 22 Ignacio Álvarez, 23 Diego Ardao
NAMIBIA
1 Desiderus Sethie, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 3 Casper Viviers, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 6 Wian Conradie, 7 Johan Retief, 8 Richard Hardwick, 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 11 JC Greyling, 12 Danco Burger, 13 Johan Deysel (capt.), 14 Gerswin Mouton, 15 Divan Roussouw
Replacements: 16 Gihard Visagie, 17 Jason Benade, 18 Haitembu Shifuka, 19 Ruan Ludick, 20 PJ van Lill, 21 Prince !Gaoseb, 22 Jacques Theron, 23 Andre van der Berg
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Luke Pearce (UK)
Assistant Referees: Damian Schneider (AR); Nehuen Jauri Rivero (AR)
