Uruguay qualified for the World Cup, beating Canada 32 – 31 on the night, 70 – 60 on aggregate. Unlike last weeks game, this was not part of the Americas Rugby Championship.
Canada opened the scoring with a penalty from fullback Brock Staller in the 5th minute. They increased the lead with tries from DTH van der Merwe and Taylor Paris, the second of which was converted by Staller. Uruguay got back into it late in the first half, lock Ignacio Dotti got over, Felipe Berchesi converted, then added a penalty. Staller kicked a penalty to end the half. At halftime Canada led 10 – 18, trailing 48 – 47 on aggregate.
Canada opened the scoring with a penalty from fullback Brock Staller in the 5th minute. They increased the lead with tries from DTH van der Merwe and Taylor Paris, the second of which was converted by Staller. Uruguay got back into it late in the first half, lock Ignacio Dotti got over, Felipe Berchesi converted, then added a penalty. Staller kicked a penalty to end the half. At halftime Canada led 10 – 18, trailing 48 – 47 on aggregate.
Uruguay got an early score in the first half, outside centre Juan Manuel Cat touched down to make it 15 – 18. Staller and Berchesi exchanged penalties exchanged penalties, Uruguay remained in front on aggregate. It was a chaotic last 15 that saw Uruguay seal it, inside centre Andrés Vilaseca got two tries, both converted by Berchesi, either side of a Djustice Sears-Duru touch down. Van der Merwe got a try with the clock in red, Canada declined the conversion.
Uruguay will play in Pool D alongside Australia, Wales, Georgia, & Fiji. Canada go into the repechage.
Teams:
Uruguay
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (17 Matías Benítez 76’), 2 Germán Kessler (16 Carlos Pombo 76’), 3 Mario Sagario (18 Juan Echeverría 68’), 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Rodrigo Capó Ortega (19 Manuel Leindekar 68’), 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Franco Lamanna, 8 Alejandro Nieto (20 Rodolfo Garese 78’), 9 Santiago Arata (21 Agustín Ormaechea 13’), 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat (23 Joaquín Prada 71’), 14 Leandro Leivas (22 Gastón Mieres 76’), 15 Rodrigo Silva
Canada
1 Hubert Buydens (17 Djustice Sears-Duru 61’), 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Benoît Pifféro 62’), 3 Jake Ilnicki (18 Cole Keith 45’-55’), 4 Brett Beukeboom (19 Kyle Baillie 62’), 5 Evan Olmstead, 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 Matt Heaton (20 Admir Cejvanovic 76’), 8 Tyler Ardron, 9 Phil Mack (capt.) (21 Gordon McRorie 68’), 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 DTH van der Merwe (23 Kainoa Lloyd 26’-30’), 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Taylor Paris, 15 Brock Staller
Unused Replacement: 22 Patrick Parfrey
Ciarán Duffy (@TheVoiceDepth) is a Leinster supporter and self-proclaimed ‘big cheese’ of Post To Post (@PostToPostSport). He’ll write about anything rugby under the condition he gets to take it too seriously.
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