URUGUAY DEFEAT CANADA IN SERIES OPENER

Vancouver, BC - Canada's Men's Rugby Team dropped the first leg of the 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifying series 38-29 to Uruguay on Saturday afternoon at BC Place. 

The away team was too good on the day as they ran in five tries from all over the park. A combination of physical play upfront and slick handling at the back lead to the majority of tries being scored out wide for the South Americans.

After silencing the home crowd in the opening minute of the game, Canada fought back and looked to be in control after tries from local favourite Evan Olmstead and try-scoring-machine DTH van der Merwe. The score 17-7.

The lead, however, did not last long as Uruguay bounced back with tries of their own through winger Leandro Leivas, before dangerous scrumhalf Santiago Arata broke around the ruck and darted through the gap to dive under the poles. Uruguay went into the break with a 21-17 lead.

Canada came out of the blocks firing in the second half and a driving maul from a lineout resulted in the referee awarding a penalty try to the men in red. The Uruguay hooker Germán Kessler was sent to the sin bin as a result of the professional foul.

The trend of the game continued as more holes opened in the Canadian defense and Uruguay capitalized with two tries from their lock pairing Ignacio Dotti and Rodrigo Capó Ortega. Uruguay now leading 35-24.

With support from the crowd, Canada fought valiantly until the end and although Nick Blevins scored a superb try in the corner, it wasn’t enough as Uruguay slotted a late penalty to win the first leg of the series opener 39-24.

Canada now travel to Montevideo with a nine-point deficit and will be looking to improve on this performance next Saturday.

Head Coach, Kingsley Jones Comments:

"There is lots of good but lots of disappointment as well. They won the collisions, our line speed wasn't what we wanted, particularly first half and it allowed them to come on the ball with momentum and they caused us problems.

To give a soft try away in the opening minute is not what you want at home in a big game like that, and fairplay to the Uruguayans, they were well drilled and did the job.

I thought the critical moment was the yellow card in the second half. We can look at our defense and at times lack of line speed but we had a lot of opportunities as well, which at this level you have got to take. We weren't clinical enough.

There are a lot of positives. We managed our set-piece play very well, our line-outs were excellent, we stole a lot of balls and our scrum more than matched them.

We have got to win by 10 points next week. I know we havn't done it for a while but we'll have to go and do it."

Scoring Recap:

Canada:

• Tries: 17’ Evan Olmstead, 24’ DTH van der Merwe, 46’ Penalty Try, 70’ Nick Blevins.
• Conversions: Connor Braid (2)
• Penalties: Connor Braid (1)

Uruguay:  

• Tries: 1’ Rodrigo Silva, 30’ Leandro Leivas, 40’ Santiago Arata, 51’ Ignacio Dotti, 56’ Rodrigo Capó Ortega
• Conversions: Felipe Berchesi (5)
• Penalties: Felipe Berchesi (1)

Canada’s Men’s Roster for the first leg of the 2019 Rugby World Cup Qualifier:

1. Hubert Buydens – (New Orleans Gold/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon,SK
2. Ray Barkwill – (Seattle Seawolves/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON
3. Jake Ilnicki – (Newcastle Falcons/BC Bears) Williams Lake, BC
4. Brett Beukeboom – (Cornish Pirates/Ontario Blues) Lindsay, ON
5. Josh Larsen – (Northland) Parksville, BC
6. Evan Olmstead – (Newcastle Falcons/Prairie Wolf Pack) Vancouver, BC
7. Matt Heaton – (Darlington Mowden Park/Atlantic Rock) Godmanchester, QC
8. Tyler Ardron – (Chiefs/Ontario Blues) Lakefield, ON
9. Phil Mack – Captain (James Bay AA/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
10. Connor Braid – (James Bay AA/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
11. DTH van der Merwe – (Newcastle Falcons) Victoria, BC
12. Nick Blevins – (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
13. Ben LeSage – (UBC Thunderbirds/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
14. Jeff Hassler – (Ospreys/Prairie Wolf Pack) Okotoks, AB
15. Taylor Paris – (Castres/Ontario Blues) Barrie, ON
16. Benoit Piffero – (Blagnac Sporting Club/Atlantic Rock) Montreal, QC 
17. Djustice Sears-Duru – (Ealing Trailfinders/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
18. Cole Keith – (James Bay AA/Atlantic Rock) Sussex, NB
19. Admir Cejvanovic – (Burnaby Lake RFC/BC Bears) Burnaby, BC
20. Lucas Rumball – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Mississauga, ON
21. Gordon McRorie – (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
22. Patrick Parfrey – (Swilers RFC/Atlantic Rock) St. John’s, NL
23. Brock Staller – (Meralomas RFC/BC Bears) Surrey, BC

Uruguay roster to face Canada:

1. Mateo Sanguinetti
2. Germán Kessler
3. Mario Sagario
4. Ignacio Dotti
5. Rodrigo Capó Ortega
6. Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.)
7. Franco Lamanna
8. Alejandro Nieto
9. Santiago Arata
10. Felipe Berchesi
11. Nicolás Freitas
12. Andrés Vilaseca
13. Juan Manuel Cat
14. Leandro Leivas
15. Rodrigo Silva
16. Carlos Pombo
17. Matías Benítez
18. Juan Echeverría
19. Manuel Leindekar
20. Rodolfo Garese
21. Agustín Ormaechea
22. Gastón Mieres
23. Joaquín Prada

Canada’s 2018 Americas Rugby Championship & RWC Qualifier schedule:

Canada vs. Uruguay
Full Time Result: Canada 29 – 38 Uruguay

Canada vs. Uruguay
February 3^rd at 5pm local time (3pm ET/12pm PT)
Montevideo, Uruguay
*Rugby World Cup Qualifier round 2, not an ARC match*

Canada vs. USA
February 10^th at 3pm local time
Sacramento, California

Canada vs. Brazil
February 17^th at 6:30pm local time
Westhills Stadium, Langford, BC

Canada vs. Argentina XV
February 24^th at 8pm local time
Jujuy, Argentina

Canada vs. Chile
March 3^rd at 1pm local time
La Pintana, Santiago, Chile

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