Fine wins for Uruguay, Chile in Sudamérica Championship
Uruguay and Chile made fine starts to their Sudamérica Championship campaigns thanks to impressive wins over Paraguay and Brazil respectively.
Los Teros claimed a convincing 45-19 win over Paraguay in Asunción, and Chile secured a hard-fought 15-10 triumph over Brazil in Santiago.
The winners of this year's Sudamérica Championship will face the loser of the Americas 1 play-off between USA and Canada, which will be played on a home and away basis on 24 June and 1 July, for the right to participate at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan as the Americas 2 qualifier.
Uruguay 45-19 Paraguay
Asunción
Due to heavy rain, this clash had a delayed start but that did not deter the visitors who dominated from the outset and held a comfortable 33-0 lead at half-time.
Los Teros' forwards laid the foundation to their victory with a dominant display up front and experienced winger Gaston Mieres was capitalised on this by scoring a first half hat-trick.
Paraguay suffered a setback as early as the 10th minute when Omar Rojas received a yellow card for continuous team infringements. Uruguay opted to take a scrum from the resulting penalty abd soon awarded a penalty try after the hosts collapsed the set-piece close to their try-line.
Despite the wet conditions, Los Teros opted to run the ball and Mieres scored his first try midwayv through the half.
The visitors continued to dominate and Martin Espiga crossed for their third try from the back of a lineout drive on the half-hour mark before Mieres scored further tries in the 33rd and 40th minutes.
Uruguay did not take their foot off the pedal and were 40-0 ahead thanks to a pushover try from Gonzalo Soto in the 52nd minute.
Los Yacares seemed shell-shocked but did not surrender and winger Héctor Gayoso broke their duck with a try in the 59th minute but another Soto try shortly afterwards underlined Uruguay's dominance.
Paraguay finished stronger thanks to consoloation tries from Luis Mauger and Martín Sitjar but it was too little too late as Uruguay had the result sewn up by then.
Chile 15-10 Brazil
Santiago
The sides traded penalties during the openinig quarter but Chile winger Franco Velarde crossed for the opening try in the 31st minute after prop Ramón Ayarza and back-row Anton Petrowisch combined brilliantly in the build-up.
Just before half-time, Brazil struck back with a try by flyer De Wet van Niekerk under the posts after Chile scrum-half Jan Hassenlechner had a clearance kick charged down.
Moisés Duque added the extras which meant Brazil held a 10-8 half-time lead.
The second half was a tight affair and we had to wait until the 75th minute for a converted try by Chile's hooker, Tomás Dussailant, which sealed Chile's victory.
The result sees Chile gain revenge for their lacklustre performance against Brazil in the Americas Rugby Championship in São Paulo earlier this year. More importantly, it keeps Los Cóndores’ dream of making it all the way to Japan 2019 alive.