Canada fall to 14-man Uruguay

Canada crashed to defeat against Uruguay in their opening match of the Americas Rugby Championship on Saturday evening, losing by a score of 20-17 at the Estadio Charrúa. The visitors carried a 17-8 lead well into the final quarter but could not close the game out despite their hosts playing shorthanded for much of the match.

After the two sides traded possession in the opening minutes it was Uruguay who threatened the line first. Dominance in the scrum earned a penalty to put them into scoring position. With the winger pulled into the line Santiago Arata spotted the open space and deftly stabbed the ball into the corner for Federico Favaro to reach first for the try.

Just a couple minutes later disaster struck Los Teros. A moment of madness from Arata saw the scrumhalf throw a headlock around Andrew Coe, pulling the Canadian down directly on his head. After a brief review with the television official, the referee returned with red card and Uruguay would play the 64 remaining minutes not only down a man but deprived of their most dangerous attacking weapon.

It would take another 20 minutes for the advantage to yield points for Canada. Another scrum penalty gave Juan Manuel Cat a chance for three points which he duly obliged. At the other end of the pitch Theo Sauder’s first penalty attempt was pushed wide right. The points would eventually come from a counter-attack, started by Kainoa Lloyd and finished by Ciaran Hearn. Sauder’s conversion attempt was again wide to make it 8-5 to Uruguay at the interval.

Sauder made up for the misses with a piece of individual brilliance just as the second half got underway. The fullback stepped between two front rowers in the line, swerved past two more, and then showed a clean pair of heels to two more. He would finally find his range to make the score a full seven and give Canada their first lead.

A third missed kick from Sauder left points on the board and then Ben LeSage received a temporary dismissal for some ill-advised retaliation at an off-the-ball fracas. With the teams now even at 14 men apiece it was Canada who found the space. The Teros defense was too slow to fill in on the blindside and Jamie Mackenzie needed no second invitation to take the free pass to the line. Sauder was again nominated to attempt the conversion and for the fourth time the uprights evaded him.

The final minutes of the match will not have impressed the Canadian staff. In came the cavalry from the bench and with four sets of fresh legs the Uruguayan forwards took control. Ignacio Dotti reached over the line to close the gap before himself trudging off gingerly. With only one replacement left front rower Guillermo Pujadas was summoned, and the 21-year-old was soon to make his mark.

Los Teros drove to the Canadian line and after multiple phases the inevitable came with Pujadas able to squeeze in under the post defense. The clock had already entered stoppage time and Andrés De León joyfully dropped the conversion over the crossbar to end the game.

Canada have now dropped four consecutive test matches to Uruguay with their last win coming in February of 2016. The Maple Leafs now face the Tupis next week having lost their only previous test in Brazil. Los Teros will celebrate another famous victory before hosting Chile in Montevideo on Friday.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 20
Tries – F. Favaro (13’), I. Dotti (69’), G. Pujadas (80’)
Cons – F. Favaro 0/1, J. Cat 0/1, A. De León 1/1 (80’)
Pens – J. Cat 1/1 (25’)
Red cards – S. Arata (16’)

CANADA 17
Tries – C. Hearn (37’), T. Sauder (41’), J. Mackenzie (61’)
Cons – T. Sauder 1/3 (42’)
Pens – T. Sauder 0/2
Yellow cards – B. LeSage (54’)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (17 Facundo Gattas 63’), 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Mario Sagario (18 Juan Echeverría 57’), 4 Ignacio Dotti (16 Guillermo Pujadas 73’), 5 Diego Magno (19 Gonzalo Soto Mera 63’), 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea (20 Leandro Segredo 59’), 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Juan Manuel Cat (22 Andrés De León 70’), 11 Nicolás Freitas (23 Agustín Della Corte 70’), 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Joaquín Prada, 14 Federico Favaro (21 Tomás Inciarte 20’), 15 Rodrigo Silva

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (16 Noah Barker 73’), 2 Eric Howard, 3 Matt Tierney, 4 Conor Keys (21 Nakai Penny 70’), 5 Josh Larsen (19 Mike Sheppard 50’), 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Luke Campbell, 9 Jamie Mackenzie, 10 Patrick Parfrey, 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Andrew Coe (23 Nick Blevins 66’), 15 Theo Sauder

Not used: 17 Ryan Kotlewski, 18 Cole Keith, 20 Dustin Dobravsky, 22 Will Percillier

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
Assistants: Francisco González (URU) & Santiago Romero (URU)
TMO: Alejandro Longres (URU)

 

Attendance: 3,800