Raptors and Peñarol put on a Barn Burner in Colorado

The American Raptors and Peñarol put on a Barn Burner in Colorado on Sunday. In an absolute thriller, the Uruguayan visitors were 50-37 winners. There were thirteen tries scored in the match; three of them went to Manuel Diana who furthers himself as a the leading try scorer in the league.

Seven tries were scored in the opening half. The first two went to the home side. Ethan McVeigh scored the first. The scrum-half went over in just the 4th minute. Captain Diego Fortuny went over from a rolling-maul for the second.

The next two tries were scored by Peñarol. N8 Manuel Diana scored the first of his hat-trick and winger Juan Manuel Alonso skated over in the corner. The back-and-forth continued. The Raptors regained the upper-hand and punished Peñarol with two more tries. Winger Daytwon Sheridan and center Aki Pulu both scored.

Diana struck late in the half to see the teams balanced at half-time. The Raptors held a deserved 25-22 advantage at the close of the half. Diana scored his third to open the second-half. With it Peñarol were in the lead and they were far from done.

Rapid-fire tries saw Felipe Etcheverry, Emiliano Faccennini and Gastón Mieres all scoring in the space of eleven minutes. The best o the three was Mieres’ score from a neat-cross kick from Juan Andrés Zuccarino.

Peñarol had reached the 50 point mark; the Raptors were far behind with half as many points to their name. This would not remain so; however, as Sheridan went in to the try zone for a second time. A late score from Payton Telea-Ilalio saw the home side finishing on a high.

Peñarol have a bye next weekend. The Raptors remain in Colorado to face Yacare next Sunday. Based on recent results the match will be one to greatly look forward to.

SCORING

RAPTORS (37)
Try – E McVeigh (4′); D Fortuny (11′); D Sheridan 2 (31′, 67′); A Pulu (36′); P Telea-Ilalio (77′)
Con – L González Amorosino 1/5; (37′) J Nape 1/1 (78′)
Pen – L González Amorosino 1/1 (29′)
YC – S Vikilani (19′); F Pulu (24′); J Echeverría (76′)

PENAROL (50)
Try – M Diana 3 (19′, 40′, 42′); JM Alonso (24′); F Etcheverry (46′); M Faccennini (50′); G Mieres (57′)
Con – F Etcheverry 4/5 (25′, 43′, 47′, 51′); JA Zuccarino 1/1 (58′)
Pen – F Etcheverry 1/1 (3′)
YC – M Ardao (27′); R Piussi (72′)

TEAMS

RAPTORS
1 Payton Telea-Ilalio, 2 Diego Fortuny, 3 Ma’ake Muti, 4 Diego Magno, 5 Mikey Grandy (capt.), 6 Shawn Clark, 7 Ronan Murphy, 8 Siaki Vikilani, 9 Ethan McVeigh, 10 Lucas González Amorosino, 11 Daytwon Sheridan, 12 Aki Pulu, 13 Watson Filikitonga, 14 Ryan James, 15 Line Latu

Replacements: 16 Sione Finefeuiaki, 17 Sebastián Otero, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Will Crawford, 20 Tommy Clark, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Cassh Maluia, 23 Patrick Madden

PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Emiliano Faccennini, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 5 Agustín Morales, 6 Manuel Ardao (capt.), 7 Carlos Deus, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Juan Manuel Alonso, 12 Juan Andrés Zuccarino, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Alfonso Silva, 15 Rodrigo Silva

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Felipe Aliaga, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Juan Francisco Torres, 22 Gastón Mieres, 23 Icaro Amarillo

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Nehuén Jauri Rivero (AR)
Assistant Referees: Joe Burpoe (US); Steve Gore (US)
TMO: Chris O’Malley (US)