Los Teros edge Los Cóndores in South American thriller
MATCH REPORT: Uruguay won a closely contested affair against Chile, 26-25, in Montevideo in the first of their warm-up matches as a build-up to the World Cup.
Los Cóndores got a good start and an infringement from Uruguay gave Santiago Videla the opportunity to open the scoring.
But Uruguay soon took an early lead as referee Luke Pearce awarded a penalty try for illegally collapsing a rolling maul and sending Ignacio Silva to the sin-bin.
Soon another Chilean player got his marching orders when fullback Iñaki Ayarza was yellow-carded for an aerial collision with his opposite number Baltazar Amaya and Los Cóndores were reduced to 13 men.
Los Teros wasted no time in scoring again and the numerical advantage created huge open spaces which Felipe Etcheverry exploited with a cross-quick for Bautista Basso to score.
As the clock wind down with 11 minutes remaining, Chile fought back gallantly and Avarza managed to score after a quick tap.
However, Uruguay was not done and Tomás Inciarte darted over for the try.
While Chile had the final say when Matías Garafulic just managed to get the ball down in the corner.
The try was converted - leaving the final score at 26-25.
Up next for Uruguay is Namibia in Montevideo, while Chile plays at home against the Argentina XV in Antofagasta.
Scorers:
For Uruguay:
Tries: Penalty Try, Basso, Ardao, Inciarte
Cons: Etcheverry 3
For Chile:
Tries: Martínez, Ayarza, Garafulic
Cons: Videla 3
Pens: Videla 2
Yellow Cards: Ignacio Silva (For Chile, 12), Iñaki Ayarza (For Chile, 13)
Teams:
Uruguay: 15 Baltazar Amaya, 14 Bautista Basso, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (captain), 11 Nicolás Freitas, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 8 Manuel Diana, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 6 Manuel Ardao, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 2 Germán Kessler, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti.
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 20 Santiago Civetta, 21 Felipe Berchesi, 22 Gastón Mieres, 23 Juan Manuel Alonso.
Chile: 15 Iñaki Ayarza, 14 Cristóbal Game, 13 Pablo Casas, 12 Matías Garafulic, 11 Santiago Videla, 10 Rodrigo Fernández (captain), 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Ignacio Silva, 6 Clemente Saavedra, 5 Pablo Huete, 4 Javier Eissmann, 3 Matías Dittus, 2 Augusto Bohme, 1 Javier Carrasco.
Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 19 Santiago Pedrero, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21 Raimundo Martínez, 22 Lukas Carvallo, 23 Francisco Urroz.
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Nehuen Jauri Rivero, Damian Schneider