Brazil earn respect against Māori All Blacks

Brazil earned respect against the Māori All Blacks this evening. Playing at São Paulo’s famous Estádio do Morumbi the Tupis lost 35-3 but put in a far better performance than the scoresheet suggested.

A determined effort from the home side saw the Māori restricted to 14 first-half points. Os Tupis did so by outperforming the New Zealanders in the scrum and never giving up in a match hit by a torrential downpour in the second half.

Brazil scored once in the match, doing so via a second half penalty. It was kicked by Josh Reeves, a player from New Zealand who qualifies for Brazil via residency. The goal saw the scores standing at 14-3.

The early signs were very different. Just three minutes into the match and the Māori had a try. A simple drive from a line-out saw Isaia Walker-Leawere going over.

16 minutes into the match and Brazil appeared to be in serious trouble. Starting hooker Wilton Rebolo was yellow-carded for a late tackle yet the advantage would not see the visitors scoring further points.

With Rebolo back on Māori captain Ash Dixon scored the second try. The 27th minute effort saw a rolling maul forcing Brazil to retreat.

Dixon’s second try would also be the next from the New Zealanders. It would not come until well into the second half. The 57th minute effort saw the hooker combining with second-rower Pari Pari Parkinson.

In the final quarter Brazil’s resilience ran out. With it the Māori went over for two further tries. Touching down were Jackson Hemopo and Jonah Lowe.

As the clock ticked down Brazil had one final shot at scoring. Just a a few short meters from their own tryline, a loose Māori pass was nearly intercepted by Reeves in what would have been a certain try.

The Māori will play again next Saturday against Chile in Santiago. It will bring to an end their tour which began last Saturday in Chicago against the USA.

 

SCORING

BRAZIL 3
Pens – L. Tranquez 0/1, J. Reeves 1/1 (50′)
Yellow cards – W. Rebolo (16′)

MᾹORI 35
Tries – I. Walker-Leawere (3′), A. Dixon 2 (28′, 57′), J. Hemopo (64′), J. Lowe (77′)
Cons – O. Black 5/5 (4′, 29′, 58′, 65′, 78′)

 

TEAMS

BRAZIL
1 Lucas Abud, 2 Wilton Rebolo, 3 Jardel Vettorato (18 Matheus Rocha 70′), 4 Luiz Vieira (20 Michael Moraes 65′), 5 Cléber Dias, 6 Arthur Bergo, 7 Devon Müller (19 Matteo Dell’Acqua 43′), 8 André Arruda (17 Endy Willian 23′-27′), 9 Lucas Duque (21 Douglas Rauth 70′), 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Robert Tenório (23 Stefano Giantorno 70′), 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Lucas Tranquez, 15 Daniel Sancery

Not used: 16 Caíque Silva, 22 De Wet van Niekerk

MᾹORI ALL BLACKS
1 Ben May (17 Chris Eves 54′), 2 Ash Dixon (capt.) (16 Robbie Abel 61′), 3 Marcel Renata (18 Tyrel Lomax 51′), 4 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 5 Pari Pari Parkinson, 6 Reed Prinsep, 7 Billy Harmon (20 Mitchell Karpik 62′), 8 Akira Ioane (19 Jackson Hemopo 55′), 9 Jonathan Ruru (21 Bryn Hall 51′), 10 Otere Black, 11 Shaun Stevenson, 12 Teihorangi Walden (23 Matt Proctor 55′), 13 Rob Thompson, 14 Jonah Lowe, 15 Matt Lansdown (22 Josh Ioane 59′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
Assistants: Joaquín Montes (URU) & Francisco González (URU)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (UAR)

 

Attendance: 34,451