Chile needed to be at their best to beat fast-improving Brazil

Canada sit at the top of the Americas Rugby Championship 2016 after the first of five rounds, courtesy of their five-try bonus point win. Chile's tight victory against Brazil puts them in second place, while Argentina XV and USA are third-equal ahead of Brazil and Uruguay.

Canada 33-17 Uruguay

Debutant Dan Moor scored a pair of tries while Phil Mackenzie, Nick Blevins and Alistair Clark also touched down as Canada scored their opening win in front of 1,123 fans.


 
"We worked together and came up as a team," said interim head coach Francois Ratier. "That’s the spirit we want. I am pleased for the boys. We talked about living in the moment and not thinking about the number of caps or whatever. Just play rugby, they are there because they are good players."

Of the six sides, only Uruguay's World Rugby ranking changed as a result of the weekend's matches, the Teros falling two places to 22nd. 
 
Canada: Tries: Dan Moor (2), Nick Blevins, Phil Mackenzie, Alistair Clark. Conversions: Gordon McRorie (3)
Uruguay: Tries: Penalty try, Alejandro Nieto, Leandro Leivas. Conversions: Rodrigo Silva

Chile 25-22 Brazil

Chile opened the Americas Rugby Championship with a hard-fought 25-22 home win against a Brazilian side that played beyond its current rankings position of 42. Both sides scored three tries on a hot and sunny afternoon at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento de Rugby, at the foothills of the Andes.

"It was a very hard game," said Chilea captain Benjamín Soto. "The scoreboard speaks for itself, we could have won it by a bigger margin, but we’ll take the win as it was. This Americas Rugby Championship is the hardest tournament we’ve played in but you only get better playing against good sides."
 
Brazilian captain Daniel Danielewicz said: "We could have done with a little bit more time, but we have a new style we want to play and individual mistakes were costly. Yet, we left everything on the field of play."

Chile: Tries: Ítalo Zunino, Francisco de la Fuente, José Larenas; 2C, 2P Matías Nordenflycht
Brazil: Tries: Daniel Sancery, Felipe Sancery, Lucas Tranquez; 2C, 2P H David Harvey

USA 35-35 Argentina XV

In the most entertaining game of the opening round USA and Argentina XV both had late opportunities to snatch a win, but drew 35-35 in front of 10,200 spectators at the BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston.


 
USA started strongly, taking an early 13-0 lead, but the young Argentines roared back to take the lead with two converted tries and they went into the break 21-15 up. The returning Todd Clever scored a try to inspire the Eagles and they seemed destined to win after Eric Fry’s converted try on 75 minutes, but the plucky Argentines had the final say when Juan León Novillo converted Tomas Carrió's late try todraw the game, 35-35.

USA: T Takudzwa Ngwenya, Todd Clever, Cameron Dolan, Eric Fry; 3C3P James Bird
Argentina XV: T Tomás Carrió (2), Rodrigo Báez, Juan Cappiello, Gonzalo Bertranou; 3C Domingo Miotti, 2C Juan León Novillo

Americas Rugby Championship 2016

1 – Canada (5 Points)
2 – Chile (4 Points)
3 – USA (3 Points)
4 – Argentina (3 Points)
5 – Brazil (1 Point)
6 – Uruguay (0 Points)

Round 1 – 6-7 Feb - Canada v Uruguay ; USA v Argentina ; Chile v Brazil
Round 2 – 13-14 Feb - USA v Canada ; Argentina v Chile ; Brazil v Uruguay
Round 3 – 20-21 Feb - Canada v Brazil ; USA v Chile ; Uruguay v Argentina
Round 4 – 27-28 Feb - Argentina v Canada ; Brazil v USA ; Chile v Uruguay
Round 5 – 5-6 March - Chile v Canada ; Uruguay v USA ; Brazil v Argentina