Uruguay Win Against Improved Chile in ARC

Uruguay were winners against an improved Chile in tonight’s ARC fixture. Los Teros won 20-5 though were far from playing at their peak, a notable problem as RWC 2019 is just seven months away.

Chile’s best rugby came in the opening quarter. Los Cóndores spent a large part of the opening quarter in Uruguay’s half and several minutes inside the 22. The Chileans would have a chance to score only to knock-on. Fly half Francisco González would also miss a straight-forward penalty and a drop-goal.

Uruguay were far from at their best but would be leading 10-0 after 26 minutes. Their first points came from Andrés Vilaseca. The inside center took on the kicking duties and would land the only points in the opening quarter to put Uruguay 3-0 ahead in the 16th minute.

Valise would be kicking for goal again ten minutes later. This time it was a simple conversion. The Austin Elite center would make no mistake as he converted Joaquín Prada‘s try. It came from a kick-thrush from fly half Juan Manuel Cat which bounced off the body of Matías Dittus for Prada to gather and score from.

10-0 is how scores would stand at half time. Uruguay lacked cohesion with Tomás Iniciarte not having the same flow as the suspended Santiago Arata. The all-round quality game of Arata was evidently lacking in what was a disrupted performance from the pack and base of the scrum.

Following the second half kick-off Uruguay were awarded a penalty. Vilaseca landed a well-struck attempt to put Los Teros 13-0 ahead.

53 minutes in Chile gave Uruguay a scare as replacement hooker Augusto Böhme ran in a spectacular solo try from the line-out. With great explosion he ran 25 meters to dive over in the corner, getting there before the returning Iniciarte.

Uruguay hit-back five minutes later. The try was started and finished by the forwards with Diego Magno ultimately barging over from short-range. It gave Uruguay a 20-5 lead, sealing the result with just over a quarter left to play.

Back-to-back tries loomed as a counter-attack from the deep saw Uruguay close to scoring. Chile would recover to dot the ball down though it came at a cost as Julio Blanc was yellow carded for a late tackle on Gastón Mieres.

With a minute to play José Ignacio Larenas would receive the same sanctioning as Blanc. He was also yellow carded for a late tackle. The one-man-advantage would not see further points as sloppy play would again see Uruguay playing far below their best.

The ARC will have a bye round next weekend. When the competition resumes on February 22 Uruguay will face the Argentina XV in Buenos Aires while Chile travel to North America to face Canada in Langford.

SCORERS

URUGUAY

TRY: Prada, Magno
Conversion: Vilaseca (2)
Penalty: Vilaseca (2)

CHILE

Try: Böhme
Yellow Card: Blanc, JI Larenas

Via AmericasRugbyNews.com