Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Uruguay played with pride to frighten Scotland in Montevideo on Saturday. The team were locked into a 19-19 scoreline in the final quarter before Scotland scored two quick-fire tries to win 31-19.
The match was a solid case in point for Uruguay to host Tier 1 test matches annually. It was also a remarkable turnaround. Only seven days earlier, Los Teros were beaten by a record making by Argentina. However, when take together with the performance against France, Uruguay has come away with satisfactory outcomes in July.
Tier 1 teams are supposed to win cleanly against Tier 2 sides. However, in Montevideo on Saturday Uruguay took-it to Scotland. It took the injection of Scottish replacement forwards in the final quarter to see the visitors end their Americas tour unbeaten. Scotland’s tour saw win over Canada in Ottawa, the USA in Washington, DC, Chile in Santiago and Uruguay in Montevideo. The one match in which Scotland was pushed was against Los Teros.
Uruguay had two early opportunities to score tries. Attacking penalties saw Los Teros kick for the corner. Lineout to maul attacks were well-defended by Scotland. Uruguay also had a shot at goal only Felipe Etcheverry’s strike was wayward. He would miss two further kicks which were well within his usual rang of accuracy.
Instead, it was Scotland who opened the scoring. The visitors did so with three unanswered trie. Hooker Evan Ashman, flanker Luke Crosbie, and winger Duhan van der Merwe all scored to give Scotland a 19-0 lead. The try to South African van der Merwe saw him breaking the all-time try scoring record for Scotland. The import only became eligible for Scotland in 2021 and move to play in England the same year.
The three tries meant Scotland were in total control. It appeared to be game over, however, Uruguay fought back with two tries before hall-time. First, scrum-half Santiago Álvarez intercepted to or under the posts. Etcheverry converted before scoring himself.
The third quarter saw Uruguay on top. Los Teros had the upper hand in the scrum, domination in the lineout and were winning the majority of the collisions in general play. Meanwhile, Scotland were not only on the Blackfoot but were all playing i their own half. Scotland held firm until veteran Uruguayan N8 Manuel Diana scored following phases from the forwards.
Diana’s try levels the scoring at 19-19 after 61 minutes. Gregor Townsend looks to his replacements and they delivered. Replacement hooker Patrick Harrison, and South African prop Pierre Schoeman both scored.
Scotland had secured the win with just over 10 minutes remaining. Uruguay looked to hit-back but were unable to do so. Scotland ran in a try only for it to be build a non-try for obstruction. Time was up yet both teams wanted to score again. This saw there minutes of further play beyond regulation. Uruguay merited another score to improve on the 31-19 deficit but the class of Scotland out trumped the South Americans.
| SCORING |
URUGUAY (19)
Try – S Álvarez (28′); F Etcheverry (38′); M Diana (61′)
Con – F Etcheverry (29′, 39′)
YC – D Arbelo (20′)
SCOTLAND (31)
Try – E Ashman (13′); L Crosbie (23′); D van der Merwe (26′); P Harrison (64′); P Schoeman (68′)
Con – B Healy (14′, 24′); A Hastings (65′)
| LINEUPS |
URUGUAY
1 Ignacio Peculo, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar (capt.), 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Carlos Deus, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Tomás Inciarte, 13 Juan Manuel Alonso, 14 Juan Bautista Hontou, 15 Ignacio Álvarez
Replacements: 16 Joaquín Myszka, 17 Mateo Sanguinetti, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Santiago Civetta, 21 Manuel Diana, 22, Santiago Gini 23 Joaquín Suárez
SCOTLAND
1 Rory Sutherland, 2 Ewan Ashman (vice-capt.), 3 Javan Sebastian, 4 Max Williamson, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Luke Crosbie, 7 Rory Darge (capt.), 8 Matt Fagerson, 9 George Horne, 10 Ben Healy, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 12 Stafford McDowall, 13 Huw Jones, 14 Kyle Rowe, 15 Harry Paterson
Replacements: 16 Patrick Harrison, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Murphy Walker, 19 Gregor Brown, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Jamie Dobie, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Kyle Steyn
| MATCH VIDEO |
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
Referee: Damian Schneider (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Mathieu Raynal (France); Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Olly Hodges (England)
