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Uruguay and Georgia played out an entertaining match at the Estadio Charrúa on Saturday. The Eastern Europeans were 41-34 winners in the first-ever match between the teams in Montevideo. The contest featured ten tries with both teams scoring five each.
Los Teros started ideally by scoring the opening try of the match after just 8 minutes. Following a liner out won by Lucas Bianchi, hooker Joaquín Myszka broke off to score in the right corner. The Georgians got one back quickly with Luka Matkava running in to score on 15 minutes.
The Lelos then went ahead with Matkava slotting a penalty. It was followed by Georgia’s second try with Nikoloz Sutidze scoring on 23 minutes and Luka Matkava converting for a 17-7 lead.
Uruguayan fly half Jean Cotarmanac’h slotted a penalty of his own on 29 minutes, doing so three minutes after Matkava landed his second for Georgia. Uruguay added to the penalty by scoring the remaining first-half try. It saw Felipe Arcos Pérez charging ahead only to be tackled in a head-clash with Georgian captain Davit Niniahvili. Uruguay retained possession and passed wide for Juan Gonzalez to score in the corner. It was now 20-15 and the Georgian captain was yellow carded.
Los Teros went ahead early on in the second-half. Felipe Arcos Pérez went over and Cotarmanac’hconverted for a 22-20 Uruguayan lead. It did not last long and Uruguay were t a numerical disadvantage with Joaquín Myszka receiving a yellow card.
Georgia hit-back through Tornike Jalagonia before Jean Cotarmanac’h pulled-off a moment of magic as he put-in a cross-kick which miraculously sat-up perfectly for Juan Manuel Alonso to score.
Georgia responded with Mikheil Alania scoring after a penalty try to put the Lelos out of reach. Uruguay, nonetheless, fought until the end and were rewarded with a final try to Ignacio Rodríguez Bosch.
The 41-34 victory sees Georgia officially opening the Nations Cup as the team to beat. Next up for the Gerogians will be Samoa while Los Teros now turn their attention to Romania.
 SCORING |
URUGUAY (34)
TRY – J Myszka (8′), J González (40′), F Arcos Pérez (45′), JM Alonso (70′), I Rodriguez Bosch (80′)
CON – J Cotarmanac’h 3 (42′, 45′, 72′)
PEN – J Cotarmanac’h (30′)
YC – J Myszka (49′), M Ardao (66′)
GEORGIA (41)
TRY – L Matkava (15′), N Sutidze (23′), T Jalagonia (53′), Penalty Try (67′), M Alania (79′)
CON – Matkava 4 (16′, 24′, 54′, 80′), No Kick (67′)
PEN – L Matkava 2 (19′, 26′)
YC – D Niniashvili (39′)
| LINE-UPS |
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Joaquín Myszka, 3 Reinaldo Piussi, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Felipe Aliaga (capt.), 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Joaquín Suárez, 10 Jean Cotarmanac’h, 11 Ignacio Álvarez Akiki, 12 Juan Manuel Alonso, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Juan González, 15 Francisco González Capdevila
Replacements: 16 Germán Kigel, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Lucas Porcelli, 19 Manuel Rosmarino, 20 Arturo Ten Hoever, 21 Ignacio Rodriguez, 22 Francisco Landauer, 23 Alfonso Vidal
GEORGIA
1 Giorgi Akhaladze, 2 Nikoloz Sutidze, 3 Aleksandre Kuntelia, 4 Mikheil Babunashvili, 5 Kote Mikautadze, 6 Beka Shvangiradze, 7 Luka Ivanishvili, 8 Tornike Jalagonia, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 10 Luka Matkava, 11 Roma Makhatadze, 12 Giorgi Kveseladze, 13 Davit Niniashvili (capt.), 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 15 Luka Tsirekidze
Replacements: 16 Luka Petriashvili, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Bachuki Chumbadze, 19 Lado Chachanidze, 20 Giorgi Javakhia, 21 Ilia Spanderashvili, 22 Mikheil Alania, 23 Tornike Kakhoidze
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
Video: To Follow
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Tomás Ninci (Argentina); Federico Longobardi (Argentina)
TMO: Dan Jones (England)
