Uruguay avoid Pool C Wooden Spoon

Poor game in Sydney as mistakes rule

The Teros of Uruguay were full value for their 24-12 win over the Lelos of Georgia in a Pool C match at Aussie Stadium on Tuesday. They scored three tires to nil to record their second-ever Rugby World Cup win.

In 1999 the Uruguayans beat Spain 25-12. In each of their two World Cup victories their opponents have failed to score a try.

In this match Georgia never looked like scoring a try as they found catching and passing, even at the simplest level, beyond them. It was, in fact, a largely bumbling match of kicking and bashing, but the three Uruguayan tries were certainly good value.

Uruguay went to the break leading 10-3 after scoring the only try of the match in a half of kick-bash-knock-on varied with bash-kick-knock-on. Georgia had more possession and lost it more often.

Adding to Georgian woes was a wobbly line-out.

Indeed Uruguay's try was as a result of lost line-out ball. It started when Georgia won a sloppy line-out and then turned the ball over. Uruguayan scrum-half Juan Campomar shot down the short side, but was shoved into touch for a five-metre line-out to Georgia. Hooker David Dadunashvili overthrew the line-out and Nicolás Grille drove at the line.

Over and over the Uruguayans bashed at the Georgian line which held manfully. Suddenly Campomar spun the ball to Sebastian Aguirre who gave to fullback Juan Menchaca who was in the line and he sent Alfonso Cardoso over for the try far out, which Diego Aguirre converted.

The other points in the half came from penalties, first by Menchaca and then by right-wing Malkhaz Urjukashvili, who took over from Paliko Jimsheladze, who had missed two. Uruguay also missed two penalties and two drop-goal attempts.

Georgia made many changes at half-time, aimed no doubt at improving their mobility. It had a slight effect and they moved up to 10-9 as 19-year-old Merab Kvirikashvili kicked two penalty goals. Normally a scrum-half, he came on as a fly-half, and penalty goals apart, had a game to forget as his hands and kicking out of hand let him down.

Off one of Kvirikashvili's knock-ons, the Uruguayans attacked and forced the Georgians into scrambled defence which produced a line-out. The Uruguayans caught the ball, formed a maul and rolled it, till eventually stumpy hooker Diego Lamelas broke off and scored. Diego Aguirre converted from a long way out.

Uruguay were close again from a maul. The Georgians collapsed the maul but the referee played advantage and eventually penalised the Uruguayans for "truck-'n-trailer" on the Georgian line. This produced a query from Diego Aguirre, who wondered why the collapsing of the maul had not been penalised. He was told that advantage was over.

Remarkably, Georgia did not concede a single penalty in the second half, while the Uruguayans were penalised nine times.

It was rare during this match for man to beat man. In fact, it happened only twice - both through breaks by Diego Aguirre. His second break produced the final try of the match. A tapped free-kick produced a ruck. Aguirre straightened up and broke through two Georgians. In the tackle he got the ball to Campomar, who in turn got the pass away in the tackle to Nicolás Brignoni, a replacement flank, who scored in the tackle.

Man of the match: The Uruguayan candidates were their front row who put destructive pressure on the Georgians, captain Diego Aguirre for the best breaks of the match and two sweet conversions and, our choice, ubiquitous loose forward Nicolás Grille.

Moment of the match: The third Uruguayan try, set up by Diego Aguirre and scored by Nicolás Brignoni.

Villain of the match: Surprisingly there was some villainy. On two occasions Uruguayans were lucky not to receive yellow cards - once when their boots did ugly things to Akvsenti Giorgadze and once when Grille took three steps to plunge a late shoulder into a Georgian kicker.

The scorers:

For Uruguay:
Tries: Cardoso, Lamelas, Brignoni
Cons: D Aguirre 2, Menchaca
Pens: Menchaca

For Georgia:
Pens: Urjukashvili, Kvirikashvili 3

The teams:

Georgia: 15 Irakli Machkhaneli, 14 Malkhaz Urjukashvili, 13 Tedo Zibzibadze, 12 Irakli Giorgadze (Vasil Katsadze, 58), 11 Archil Kavtarashvili (Besik Khamashuridze, 40), 10 Paliko Jimsheladze (Merab Kvirikashvili, 40), 9 Irakli Modebadze, 8 Ilia Zedginidze, 7 Grégoire Yachvili, 6 George Chkhaidze, 5 Sergo Gujaraidze (George Tsiklauri, 62), 4 Zurab Mchedlishvili, 3 Avtandil Kopaliani (Soso Nikolaenko, 40, Avtandil Kopaliani, 78), 2 David Dadunashvili (Akvsenti Giorgadze, 40), 1 Goderdzi Shvelidze.
Unused replacement: 19 David Bolgashvili.
 
Uruguay: 15 Juan Menchaca, 14 Alfonso Cardoso, 13 Diego Aguirre, 12 Martín Mendaro (Joaquin Pastore, 49), 11 Carlos Baldasarri, 10 Sebastian Aguirre, 9 Juan Campomar (Bernardo Amarillo, 77), 8 Rodrigo Capo, 7 Nicolás Grille, 6 Hernán Ponte (Marcelo Gutierrez, 57), 5 Juan Alzueta (Nicolas Brignoni, 65), 4 Juan Carlos Bado, 3 Pablo Lemoine (Guillermo Storace, 77), 2 Diego Lamelas (Juan Andres Perez, 69), 1 Rodrigo Sanchez (Eduardo Berruti, 73).

By Paul Dobson