Uruguay overwhelm Brazil XV in warm-up contest

Uruguay’s last match before announcing their final team for the Rugby World Cup came off without a hitch. They overwhelmed the Brazil XV by a final score of 43-5 at the Estadio Charrúa on Friday evening. The Teros were well-drilled, their speed and fitness far superior to that of their opponents.

It took only three minutes for the home side to score the first try. Germán Kessler peeled off the back of a lineout drive and though the hooker was brought down just short, his arriving support provided the extra nudge to the ball over the line. Juan Manuel Cat landed the sideline conversion to make it a full seven.

Manuel Diana enjoyed a fine match and he showed impressive acceleration off the back of the scrum to score the second try, spinning out of the tackle attempt to touch the ball down. Also playing well was Franco Lamanna, pressed into action at lock. He took a short ball from Facundo Gattas in under the posts for a well-earned score.

The fourth try came just before the break and involved both skill and a dash of luck. Felipe Etcheverry’s cutout pass found Andrés Vilaseca loitering on the wing. His pass attempt deflected off Josh Reeves into the hands of Leandro Leivas, who in turn fed the ball inside to Gastón Mieres in support for the finish.

After halftime, Nicolás Freitas finished off a flowing attacking move for the fifth try. He flung Daniel Sancery aside but Robert Tenório was there to make the tackle. After one more hit-up, Freitas again popped up, this time taking a short ball from Santiago Arata to crash over.

Brazil would finally have their say after the hour mark. Some fresh legs came in to provide the impetus and then Daniel Lima stepped his way through a half-gap to slide in for a try. Josh Reeves couldn’t quite land the extras but the zero, at least, was erased.

Two more tries came before time expired. Rodrigo Silva sparked the first as he skipped through several defenders before sending Tomás Inciarte over. The seventh and final try went to Agustín Ormaechea, with Santiago Civetta feeding it to his scrumhalf from the back of an advancing scrum for the finish.

The immediate task for Esteban Meneses will be to select his final 31 for the upcoming World Cup. With 34 players currently in the squad, only three will miss out. The last warm-up fixture before departure to Japan will be next Saturday against the Argentina XV.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 43
Tries – G. Kessler (3′), M. Diana (14′), F. Lamanna (29′), G. Mieres (37′), N. Freitas (52′), T. Inciarte (70′), A. Ormaechea (80′)
Cons – J. Cat 2/4 (4′, 30′), F. Favaro 2/3 (71′, 80′)

BRAZIL 5
Tries – D. Lima (65′)
Cons – J. Reeves 0/1

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY XV
1 Facundo Gattas, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Franco Lamanna, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Gastón Mieres

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Juan Echeverría, 18 Juan Pedro Rombys, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Ignacio Dotti, 21 Agustín Ormeachea, 22 Ignacio García, 23 Federico Favaro, 24 Tomás Inciarte, 25 Agustín Della Corte, 26 Rodrigo Silva, 27 Leandro Segredo, 28 Juan Manuel Gaminara, 29 Santiago Civetta

BRAZIL XV
1 Brendon Alves, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Pedro Bengaló, 4 Lucas Piero, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Arthur Bergo, 7 Cléber Dias, 8 Matheus Claudio, 9 Laurent Bourda-Couhet, 10 Moisés Duque, 11 Ariel Rodrigues, 12 De Wet van Niekerk, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Lucas Tranquez, 15 Daniel Sancery

Replacements: 16 Endy Willian, 17 Lucas Abud, 18 Joel Ramírez, 19 Luiz Vieira, 20 Devon Müller, 21 Douglas Rauth, 22 Josh Reeves, 23 Daniel Lima, 24 Robert Tenório, 25 André Arruda

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Pali Deluca (UAR)