It was a good start for Canada as the rain held off Friday night, and we were treated to a fairly lively match instead of the dour one predicted. The Canucks looked fit and reasonably organized from start to finish and the forwards in particular held up nicely against a competitive Uruguayan scrum. In the end it was a case of too much firepower out wide and an excellent tactical kicking display from Connor Braid that made the difference.
Uruguay stated strong and were awarded a penalty early on which Felipe Berchesi converted easily, but just as quickly Canadian captain Tyler Ardron brought his men back into the game with a 50 metre intercept try, showing decent pace for a big man. Braid converted and it was 7-3 only seven minutes in.
A kickable penalty miss from Berchesi was countered again by a strong Canadian attack, and this time a cross kick from Braid found Josh Hart who offloaded in the tackle to Patrick Parfrey who dove over the line for a fine score. Braid failed to slot the tough conversion, but the momentum was firmly in Canada’s direction by now.
Uruguay settled down for a bit and a careless knock on from Clayton Meeres set up another shot at goal for Berchesi, but again he failed to convert and Canada cleared their lines. Two penalty goals from Braid, one from nearly 50 metres, made the halftime score 18-3 and Canada were comfortably ahead.
After the break Uruguay started to get a little momentum and a silly head-high tackle by Nick Blevins on Gaston Mieres started a bit of a fracas. When things calmed down Blevins was yellow carded but Uruguay failed to control possession and instead Braid put Toni Wodzicki through a gap and the big flanker offloaded to Liam Underwood for another good try. The conversion was good, 25-3 to Canada.
Finally five minutes later Los Teros made some ground and after a strong lineout drive Juan Ormaechea peeled off and went over for a deserved try. Jeronimo Etcheverry’s conversion was successful and the gap was down to 15 points.
A yellow card to Tyler Ardron for repeat infringements looked to make things interesting with twenty minutes to go, but Juan Rombys was carded himself only a couple minutes later for foul play and that killed any chance of a Uruguayan resurgence. Another Braid penalty put the finishing touches on an entertaining evening of rugby.
Uruguay tried to play a little bit too wide and got away from the strength of their pack, although wingers Mieres and Pablo Bueno looked dangerous when they got the ball. Ormaechea was their best forward and Avalo had his moments but looked a bit short on fitness.
Captain Ardron led from the front and was excellent for Canada, but man-of-the-match had to be Braid, who attacked the line, distributed well, and kicked superbly. Kieran Crowley will be very pleased with those two in particular. Hubert Buydens and Doug Wooldridge were solid in the scrums, Chris Long had a workmanlike game at lock. Knock on aside Meeres did well on the wing, and Underwood looked very composed at fullback. Overall it was a very positive performance, although discipline will need to be better going forwad.
It only gets tougher for each side now, as Uruguay moves on to face Argentina in what will be a very difficult match, and Canada takes on their neighbours the United States. These derbies tend to be hotly contested and this one should be no different, but based on today’s performances Canada will head in as favourite to get a shot at tournament glory against Argentina in a week’s time.
SCORING
04 mins – Felipe Berchesi pen 0-3
07 mins – Tyler Ardron try 5-3
07 mins – Connor Braid con 7-3
13 mins – Patrick Parfrey try 12-3
24 mins – Connor Braid pen 15-3
33 mins – Connor Braid pen 18-3
54 mins – Liam Underwood try 23-3
54 mins – Connor Braid con 25-3
59 mins – Juan Ormaechea try 25-8
59 mins – Jeronimo Etcheverry con 25-10
69 mins – Connor Braid pen 28-10
CARDS
49 mins – Nick Blevins yellow (dangerous tackle)
62 mins – Tyler Ardron yellow (collapsing the maul)
66 mins – Juan Rombys yellow (foul play)
CANADA
Liam Underwood; Josh Hart, Nick Blevins, Patrick Parfrey (Patrick Kay 73), Clayton Meeres; Connor Braid, Kyle Armstrong; Hubert Buydens (Jacob Rumball 78), Owen Parfrey (Ray Barkwill 66), Doug Wooldridge (Creag Johnston 66); Chris Long (Aaron Flagg 72), Jon Phelan; Zac Coughlan (Seb Pearson 66), Toni Wodzicki, Tyler Ardron (capt.).
URUGUAY
Jeronimo Etcheverry; Pablo Bueno (Oscar Duran 66-76), Santiago Gibernau, Rodrigo Martinez, Gaston Mieres (Francisco Vecino 49); Felipe Berchesi (Alejo Duran 62), Guillermo Lijtenstein (Federico Favaro 54); Alejo Corral (Rodolfo de Mula 54), Arturo Avalo (capt.) (Sebastian Sagario 70), Oscar Duran (Juan Rombys 35); Franco Lammana, Cristofer Soares (Mathias Palomeque 52); Fernando Bascou (Juan de Freitas 4), Diego Magno, Juan Ormaechea.
MATCH OFFICIALS
REFEREE: Juan Sylvestre (Argentina)
ASSISTANT REFEREE: David Smortchevsky (Canada)
ASSISTANT REFEREE: Andrew McMaster (Canada)
