Uruguay hold on to win at home against Chile

It is all eyes on the Rugby World Cup in South America. Uruguay and Chile clashed in Montevideo in the first warm-up match for both countries. The competitive match was won by a single point by the home side. The 26-25 result gives both Los Teros and Los Cóndores plenty to think about.

It started well for Chile. Good enterprising play saw Los Cóndores into the opposition 22. An infringement from Uruguay gave Santiago Videla the opportunity to open the scoring. 

Los Teros recovered from the 3-0 deficit to open the try scoring, claim the lead and go two players up. Referee Luke Pearce awarded a penalty try for a lineout to rolling maul. He yellow carded Ignacio Silva for collapsing. Following the restart, Chile were down to 13 on the field. Fullback Iñaki Ayarza was yellow carded for an aerial collision with his opposite number Baltazar Amaya.

Uruguay took little time to score again. The two-man advantage opened up space from which Felipe Etcheverry exploited with a cross-quick for Bautista Basso to score. Chile recovered to slot a penalty before they returned to playing with fifteen men.

The outstanding flanker Manuel Ardao responded for his country. Following a pass out the back from tight head Ignacio Peculo, Etcheverry found Ardao who split the defense like a center to score.

Los Cóndores made a half-time change; Raimundo Martínez replaced Ignacio Silva. Martínez did not take long to make an impact. From a lineout, Los Cóndores faked a maul. Martínez burst through to score. Videla’s conversion was wide which meant it was a 19-11 scoreline after 47 minutes of play.

Communication issues were a problem in this match. At one point Luke Pearce told the captains “my Spanish is terrible.” Both teams conceded penalties because the language was unclear; not appointing a Spanish-Speaker for this match was poor all around from World Rugby.

With eleven minutes remaining Chile came back in to the contest. They did so after Uruguay’s Juan Manuel Rodríguez was penalized for attempting a jackal. He did not understand Pearce. Marcelo Torrealba took a quick tap and passed to Ayarza who scored. 

The score upset Uruguay and they responded. Replacement Juan Manuel Alonso sliced through the defense and found veteran Gastón Mieres who was tackled inches short. Having moved from outside center to scrum-half, Tomás Inciarte darted over for the try.

Chile had the final say. Torrealba again had the try assist. Following waves of raids from the forwards, the ball was spun left with Matías Garafulic just managing to get the ball down in the corner. Santiago Videla converted for a 26-25 final score.

Both teams return two action next Saturday. Uruguay host Namibia in Montevideo. The match is a preview of their World Cup fixture. Chile play at home against the Argentina XV in Antofagasta.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY (26)
Try – Penalty Try (12’); B Basso (18’); M Ardao (29’); T Inciarte (74’)
Con – F Etcheverry 2/3 (19’, 75’)

CHILE (25)
Try – R Martínez (46’); I Ayarza (69’); M Garafulic (80’)
Con –  S Videla 2/3 (70’, 80’)
Pen – S Videla 2/2 (4’, 27’)
YC – I Silva (12’); I Ayarza (13’)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Bautista Basso, 15 Baltazar Amaya

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 20 Santiago Civetta, 21 Felipe Berchesi, 22 Gastón Mieres, 23 Juan Manuel Alonso

CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Augusto Bohme, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Javier Eissmann, 5 Pablo Huete, 6 Clemente Saavedra, 7 Ignacio Silva, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rodrigo Fernández (capt.), 11 Santiago Videla, 12 Matías Garafulic, 13 Pablo Casas, 14 Cristóbal Game, 15 Iñaki Ayarza

Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 19 Santiago Pedrero, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21 Raimundo Martínez, 22 Lukas Carvallo, 23 Francisco Urroz

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Luke Pearce (UK)
Assistant Referees: Nehuen Jauri Rivero (AR); Damian Schneider (AR)