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Chile overcame a determined Paraguay while Uruguay had a strong first half to overcome Brazil. Los Teritos’ 37-25 win over Brazil was, indeed, centered on a strong opening half performance.
Manuel Ardao opened the scoring for Uruguay. His 18th minute try was converted by Alejo Piazza. Brazil hit back through Felipe Cunha. But his 20th minute penalty would be Brazil’s only points oin the first half.
In contrast Uruguay crossed for an additional three tries. Ardao scored his second in the 24th minute while Marcos Pastore crossed in the 26th and 32nd minutes. Piazza landed one conversion which gave Uruguay a 23-3 half time lead.
The second half began in a similar manner. Uruguay maintained control with Piazzalanding a penalty and Ardao completing a hat-trick. With it Uruguay held a 32-3 lead after 41 minutes.
Brazil’s task only got tougher as Devon Müller was yellow carded. Yet Brazil hit back to play their best rugby in the Junior South American Championship. An excellent try was scored by Mattheus de Souza. The 48th minute score was converted by Cunha.
Uruguayan second-rower Manuel Leindekar was then given his marching orders. The Oyonnax academy player was yellow carded in the 53rd minute. Cunha then added another penalty to further decrease Uruguay’s lead.
54 minutes in and it was a 32-18 game. Ariel Da Silva zig-zagged his way through the Uruguayan defenders to score. Then several minutes later Joaquín Freitas would also complicate matters for Los Teritos as he was yellow carded.
A try from Federico Brino kept Uruguay safe as Brazil responded through Igor Campos. His 75th minute try came with the result already beyond doubt.
Both teams will play again on Saturday. Uruguay will meet Chile in the final while Brazil will face Paraguay in the Bronze Final. The winner of Uruguay vs Chile will qualify for the 2017 Junior World Trophy.
