From the anthems you could tell that Uruguay was fired up for this one, and the forwards had their way in the tight from the opening whistle. You needn’t look further than the scrum for the path to victory for Los Teros. Ten minutes in they drove the American pack backwards and Jeronimo Etcheverry slotted the consequent penalty to give the southerners an early lead.
The unforced errors that had plagued both sides during the competition began to creep into the game and after a dour ten minutes big prop Juan Rombys made inroads from a quick ruck and at the ensuing breakdown the Americans were penalised for slowing the ball down. Etcheverry slotted his second penalty and Uruguay were up by six.
A nice chip and chase by Zach Pangelinan forced a knock on penalty to be conceded by Uruguay and Gearoid McDonald obliged with his first successful kick of the tournament, but then we were back to the uninspired.
It took almost fifteen minutes to find something worth writing about, but at last the United States had their first try of the tournament via Eric Duechle, one of the few bright spots from the game. After a clean lineout take from 30 metres out the big man rumbled straight ahead through several tackles to score a fine individual effort. Sadly the conversion went astray but it was a timely score and the Americans had to feel good about heading into the break ahead.
Unfortunately the feel-good story ended there as the second half, bar the opening few minutes which saw another missed penalty kick from McDonald, was all Uruguay. Their scrum completely decimated the US pack, leading to first a penalty try and then a virtual walk over try for Diego Magno near the death.
The Americans will be bitterly disappointed to end the tournament winless, but will take some heart knowing that several of their inexperienced players have now seen what it takes to compete at international levels of competition. A few players may have even forced their way into their upcoming European tour.
Pablo Lemoine’s Uruguayan side, on the other hand, will be hugely satisfied with the victory, and combined with their fine performance against the Jaguars will consider the tournament a smashing success. They now head back home to prepare for the South American championships, and an assault on World Cup qualifying that begins next year.
SCORING
10 mins – Jeronimo Etcheverry pen 0-3
20 mins – Jeronimo Etcheverry pen 0-6
23 mins – Gearoid McDonald pen 3-6
37 mins – Eric Duechle try 8-6
52 mins – Uruguay penalty try 8-11
52 mins – Jeronimo Etcheverry con 8-13
63 mins – Jeronimo Etcheverry 8-16
72 mins – Diego Magno try 8-21
72 mins – Jeronimo Etcheverry con 8-23
77 mins – Federico Favaro pen 8-26
CARDS
65 mins – Alejo Corral yellow (side entry)
UNITED STATES
Chris Chapman; Cornelius Dirksen, Dean Gericke, Gearoid McDonald, Miles Craigwell; Zach Pangelinan (Jack Tracy 73), Shaun Davies (capt.) (Benny Mateialona 73); Zach Fenoglio, Derek Asbun (Stan Moa’ali’i 49), Tim Paulsen (Nick Wallace 54); Nick Civetta, Graham Harriman; Eric Duechle, Kris Headlee, Tom Katzfey.
URUGUAY
Jeronimo Etcheverry (Pablo Bueno 75); Gaston Mieres, Santiago Gibernau, Rodrigo Martinez, Rodrigo Silva (Agustin Alonso 66); Alejo Duran, Francisco Vecino (Guillermo Lijtenstein 75); Alejo Corral (Rodolfo de Mula 75), Arturo Avalo (capt.), Juan Rombys (Oscar Duran 54); Mathias Palomeque, Cristofer Soares (Rodolfo de Mula 66-75, Mateo Sanguinetti 75); Franco Lammana, Juan de Freitas (Federico Favaro 75), Diego Magno.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Bryan Arciero (Canada)
Assistant Referee: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Assistant Referee: Sherry Turnbull (Canada)
