Peñarol romped past Corinthians, winning 45-14 in the official debut appearance of both teams. The match marked the first game of professional rugby involving teams from both Uruguay and Brazil.
Played at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo, a dominant first half showing paved the way for a comprehensive Peñarol victory.
The Uruguayan side held a 28-0 had time lead after tries had gone to lock Alejandro Nieto; winger Raffaele Storti; scrum-half Santiago Arata; and prop Diego Arbelo. All four tries were converted by fullback Federico Favaro.
Corinthians opened the second half scoring. They did so with a try to replacement Endy Willian. It was converted by fly half Josh Reeves to make it a 28-7 scoreline.
Peñarol responded through Nieto who touched down for his second try. With further excellent goal-kicking the Uruguayan team went back to a 28 advantage, leading 35-7. Yet, solid play from Corinthians saw Daniel da Silva over for the visitors.
Peñarol then crosse for two late tries with Joaquin Jaunsolo and Baltasar Amaya scoring in the final quarter. Both conversions sailed wide, and with it Peñarol were 45-14 winners.
Peñarol will make their Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) debut next Wednesday. They will do so against Chilean side Selknam at the Estadio Charrúa. Corinthians will debut in round two of the SLAR.
TEAMS
PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Obert Nortje, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Alejandro Nieto (capt.), 5 Louis Conradie, 6 Maxime Sonneveld, 7 Juanjuan Garese, 8 Santiago Civetta, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Bradley Thain, 11 Raffaele Storti, 12 Agustín Della Corte, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Nicolás Freitas, 15 Federico Favaro
CORINTHIANS
1 Leonel Moreno, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Pedro Bengalo, 4 Luiz Vieira, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Devon Muller, 7 Arthur Bergo, 8 André Arruda, 9 Felipe Gonçalves, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Daniel Silva, 12 Robert Tenorio, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Daniel Sancery, 15 Lucas Tranquez
Replacements: 16 Endy Willian, 17 Lucas Abud, 18 Matheus Rocha, 19 Cléber Días, 20 Matheus Cláudio, 21 Douglas Rauth, 22 Gabriel Quirino, 23 Laurent Bourda, 24 Caique Segura, 25 Henrique Ferreira, 26 Kauã Guimarães, 27 Adrio Melo