Uruguay once again had the edge over their rivals Chile at the South American Under 19 Championship, winning 20-12 at the Tarus Rugby Club in Tucumán, Argentina, on Sunday to qualify for the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2010.
Los Teritos were fielding a number of players from their squad who had played at the IRB TOSHIBA Junior World Championship in Japan, when Uruguay finished 16th on their debut to leave them needing to qualify for the second tier event in 2010.
Rodrgio Martínez, Guillermo Lijstenstein, Federico Pérez, Andrés Specker and Rodrigo de Pazos played in Japan and will now all be hoping to repeat the nations efforts in 2008 when they beat hosts Chile to win the inaugural Junior World Rugby Trophy.
Uruguay had taken the lead in the 26th minute through Felipe Berchesi, the fly half converting his own try to give Los Teritos a 7-0 advantage at half-time against a side who had finished third in this year’s IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in Kenya.
Winning finish for Brazil
The Chileans must now re-group to face Argentina, who will host next years IRB Junior World Championship, on Wednesday, two days before Uruguay will also tackle Los Pumitas in Tucumán.
Meanwhile Brazil, who had narrowly lost 9-0 to Chile on the opening day last Friday, finished on a high with an equally tight 18-14 defeat of Paraguay to claim third place with forwards Osvaldo Palicios and Gabriel Abrantes scoring the tries.
Results
Uruguay 34-7 Paraguay
Chile 9-0 Brazil
3rd Place Play-off: Brazil 18-14 Paraguay
FINAL: Uruguay 20-12 Chile