photo: URU

USA claim ARC Grand Slam in Uruguay

The USA made history on Saturday as they clinched back-to-back Americas Rugby Championship titles with a stunning 61-19 win over Uruguay in Montevideo. In doing so the Eagles also became the first team to complete the Grand Slam, finishing the tournament a perfect five wins from five.

Fatigue proved a major factor. Los Teros simply had no energy left in the tank after eight long weeks of intense training which began in early January ahead of the World Cup qualifying series against Canada.

What was supposed to be a closely contested match was instead over as a contest before halftime. Tony Lamborn and Mike Te’o crossed inside the 10-minute mark, and Dylan Fawsitt picked up his first international try after a brief stalemate.

The bonus point was secured in the 26th minute when Santiago Arata was shown a yellow card for deliberately slapping the ball from the hands of Hanco Germishuys in goal. A penalty try was awarded and moments later Nate Augspurger crossed with little resistance. Germishuys officially got on the board just before the break to make the halftime score an incredible 40-0.

The break brought some life back to the home side, but it was the Eagles who struck first coming out of the tunnel. Te’o picked up a seven-pointer to make it 47-0 before the Teros finally got on the board.

Germán Kessler found a gap on the fringe and broke through the line, his inside ball to Arata setting the scrumhalf clear to the line. A well-worked try from Juan Manuel Cat followed, the midfielder stepping back inside the cover after being put into space.

Second row Brendan Daly galloped around the outside to put Josh Whippy into the corner for another Eagles try. The Teros responded with a terrific score from their own end, a sweeping move that saw Cat set Gastón Mieres free down the left sideline. One final try for USA flanker Psalm Wooching completed the scoring for the day.

The Eagles will now take huge confidence into their June test series that will see them play Scotland, Canada, and a European team still to be confirmed. Uruguay’s 14-test winning streak comes to an end, they will now grab some much-needed rest before the South American Championships begin in May.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 19
Tries – S. Arata (44’), J. Cat (51’), G. Mieres (70’)
Cons – G. Albanell 2/3 (45’, 52’)
Yellow cards – C. Pombo (64’)

USA 61
Tries – T. Lamborn (5’), M. Te’o 2 (7’, 42’), D. Fawsitt (22’), Penalty try (26’), N. Augspurger (29’), H. Germishuys (37’), J. Whippy (55’), P. Wooching (74’)
Cons – W. Magie 6/7 (6’, 8’, 23’, 30’, 43’, 56’), B. Cima 1/1 (75’)
Yellow cards – S. Arata (26’)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (16 Matías Benítez 60’), 2 Germán Kessler (17 Carlos Pombo 62’), 3 Juan Echeverría (18 Felipe Inciarte 66’), 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Rodolfo Garese (20 Diego Magno HT), 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea (19 Diego Ayala 75’), 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata (22 Tomás Inciarte 60’), 10 Germán Albanell, 11 Nicolás Freitas (23 Gastón Mieres 52’), 12 Andrés Vilaseca (21 Joaquín Prada 62’), 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Rodrigo Silva

USA
1 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa (17 Tony Purpura 62’), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 Peter Malcolm 52’), 3 Chris Baumann (18 Dino Waldren HT), 4 Brendan Daly, 5 Ben Landry (19 Matt Jensen 25’), 6 Hanco Germishuys, 7 Tony Lamborn, 8 Cam Dolan (20 Psalm Wooching 62’), 9 Shaun Davies, 10 Will Magie (21 Ruben de Haas 64’), 11 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 12 Paul Lasike (22 Ben Cima 49’), 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Mike Te’o (23 Josh Whippy 46’), 15 Dylan Audsley

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
Assistants: Joaquín Montes (URU) & Claudio Cattivelli (URU)

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