Uruguay squeeze past Spain

Uruguay came from behind to claim a deserved 16-15 victory over Spain in Montevido on Saturday.

The hosts made a bright start and raced into a 6-0 lead, after 15 minutes, via two penalties from Agustín Ormaechea but Spain struck back with a three-pointer of their own from Igor Genua.

Spain held a 10-6 lead at half-time after Genua scored a try, which he also converted, just before the break.

The visitors raced into a 15-6 lead, shortly after the restart, when Matías Tudela scored their second try but Uruguay finished stronger thanks to another Ormaechea penalty and a converted try by Gastón Mieres.

The scorers:

For Uruguay:
Try:  Mieres
Con:  Ormaechea
Pens:  Ormaechea 3

For Spain:
Tries:  Genua, Tudela
Con:  Genua
Pen:  Genua

Uruguay:  15 Gastón Mieres, 14 Santiago Gibernau, 13 Andrés Vilaseca, 12 Alberto Román, 11 Jerónimo Etcheverry, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 8 Diego Magno, 7 Juan De Freitas, 6 Juan Gaminara, 5 Santiago Vilaseca, 4 Franco Lamanna, 3 Mario Sagario, 2 Nicolás Klappenbach (c), 1 Alejo Coral.
Replacements:  16 Arturo Ãvalo, 17 Francisco Jiménez, 18 Rodolfo De Mula, 19 Mathías Palomeque, 20 Alejandro Nieto, 21 Fernando Bascou, 22 Alejo Durán, 23 Joaquín Prada.

Spain:  15 César Sempere, 14 Marcos Poggi,13 Ignacio Contardi, 12 Javier Canosa, 11 Matías Tudela, 10 Daniel Snee, 9 Pablo Feijoo (c), 8 Federico Negrillo, 7 Glen Rolls, 6 Gauthier Gibouin, 5 Jesús Recuerda, 4 Matt Cook, 3 Jesús Moreno, 2 Fabien Rofes, 1 Beñat Auzqui.
Replacements:16 Jon Insausti, 17 Joe Hutchinson, 18 Alejandro Blanco, 19 Anibal Bonán, 20 Adam Newton, 21 Igor Genua, 22 Nil Baró, 23 Agustín Ortíz.

Venue:  Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Referee:  Chris Assmus (Canada)