USA are now out on their own at the top of the Americas Rugby Championship after they beat Chile 45-12 to make it three wins from three. That victory, combined with Uruguay’s 34-17 loss at home to the Argentina XV, means the defending champions enjoy a three-point advantage over the Argentines with two rounds to go.

In the weekend’s final game, Canada defeated Brazil 45-5 in a rainy Langford to secure their first ARC 2018 win.

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Clear intentions

The Eagles made their intentions known from the start in Fullerton, California, and would have had the game’s opening try had Cam Dolan not dropped the ball on his way to the line. The home side did not have to wait long to open the scoring, though, scrum-half and captain Nate Augspurger profiting from the quick hands and feet of full-back Mike Te’o and the pace of winger Ryan Matyas to dot down with less than five minutes on the clock. 

Chile showed their commitment and at one stage held the ball for more than 25 phases, but the Eagles stayed strong in defence and had the next score when outside centre Dylan Audsley touched down in the left corner for his maiden international try.

Los Condores’ only points in the opening half came from the boot of dangerous full-back Tomás Ianiszewski, whose full array of skills were evident throughout the game. But the South Americans did fulfil their promise of getting better with each game throughout this year's Americas Rugby Championship as this was the best 40 minutes they’d produced in the tournament, holding the Eagles to a 10-3 half-time lead.

It wasn’t to last, as straight from the restart the Eagles took a handful of seconds to score their third try and stretch the lead to 17-3 with Audsley getting his second after a quick lineout throw from winger Josh Whippy saw the ball go from touch to touch.

Audsley gave the scoring pass to fellow centre Bryce Campbell a couple of minutes later and, with the bonus point secured, the Eagles momentarily switched off and were caught napping as hooker Tomas Dussaillant combined with second-row Mario Mayol at the front of the lineout to score their first try.

Te’o showed his attacking skills again with a 40-metre solo run which, after a superb sidestep ended in try. Then, debutant Malon Al-Jaboori scored under the posts to take the score to 38-8 with 15 minutes to play.

Chile replied with their second try, in the 73rd minute, when a deep counterattack involving second-row Nikola Bursic and Ianiszewski combined to send winger Ítalo Zunino on a long run to the line. Former Chicago Bears American Footballer turned Eagles winger Paul Lasike used his huge frame to close the game with his first test try with Ben Cima’s conversion bringing about the final scoreline of 45-13.

Next Saturday the Eagles travel to Sao José dos Campos to tackle Brazil while Chile return home to play against Uruguay as they go in search of their first ARC win in two years.

Early brace

Uruguay’s 14-game unbeaten run came to an end against the last side to beat them 12 months ago, the Argentina XV.

Joint leaders after the first two rounds, Uruguay took that momentum into the early stages of the game in Punta del Este.

Centre Juan Manuel Cat scored twice in the opening 15 minutes as Los Teros put the visitors under enormous pressure. The first came about when, in a double-tackle, full-back Rodrigo Silva stole the ball to pass to Cat who went under the posts. Germán Albanell added the conversion.

Soon after, a crunching tackle by Nicolás Freitas forced a spilt ball and led to Cat’s second with Diego Magno and centre Andrés Vilaseca both involved in the build-up.

Big hits continued to be a feature of the match and the Argentina XV returned the favour on Freitas to score their first try, fly-half Juan Cruz González latching onto the loose ball that resulted from the collision to run in a try from 50 metres. This came about while Uruguay were down to 14 men following Mateo Sanguinetti’s yellow card.

Argentina XV prop Francisco Ferronato scored again as soon as Uruguay were restored to their full complement of players from the back of a driving maul. González’s conversion levelled the scores at 12-12 in the 33rd minute, before striking a penalty to put his side in front for the first time of the match with 36 minutes played.

The half ended with a yellow card apiece for Argentine second-row Diego Galetto and Los Teros centre Andrés Vilaseca, Uruguay's two-try hero when they qualified for Rugby World Cup 2019 as Americas 2 at Canada's expense a fortnight ago.

Having missed a penalty soon after the restart, Uruguay chose to go to the lineout from a similar position. The driving maul opened up a huge blindside which was exploited by scrum-half Tomás Inciarte who put Freitas away in the corner.

But Argentina XV responded two minutes later, a good lineout move ending in a try for Schulz. Fellow Olympian Rodrigo Etchart followed him over the whitewash just past the hour mark as Felipe Contepomi’s side pushed the score to 24-17. A penalty from Juan Cruz Mallía’s goal stretched the lead into double figures before, eight minutes from full-time, replacement Lucas Mensa pounced on another spilt ball to score the Argentina XV’s fifth try.

First win

In Langford, heavy rain and cold weather affected the visiting Brazilians, who lost captain Yan Rosseti to the flu on the morning of the game. Canada were better equipped to deal with the conditions and showed how desperate they were to get their act in order after three losses so far this year.

They opened their first win of 2018 with a second-minute try when number eight and man-of-the-match Luke Campbell drove the ball on the back of a rolling maul. Before the 10th-minute, winger Cole Davis sliced through the fragile Brazilian defence for a second converted try.

Prop Djustice Sears-Duru’s joy was evident as he scored his side’s third try after half an hour with a huge swan-dive, coming as it did after 20 minutes of Canadian control that, up until that point, had yielded no points. Shane O’Leary landed his third conversion.

Right before the break, DTH van der Merwe scored his 11th try in 10 tests to extend his national try-scoring record to 32, as Brazil went down to 14 players after wing Lucas Muller was sin-binned for being offside. Canada went into the break leading 26-0 knowing that, barring a disastrous second half, they would get that elusive first win of 2018.

Hooker Ray Barkwill scored a much-celebrated try in the 47th-minute minute to calm any nerves and, with 24 minutes to play, any hopes Brazil had had of finishing strongly disappeared when second-row Gabriel Paganini became the first player to be sent off in the 2018 Championship for dangerous play in a ruck.

Canada capitalised when centre Doug Fraser scored five minutes later, and replacement Giuseppe du Toit added another with four minutes to play. Brazil waited until the third minute of stoppage time to get their only try, Jacobus Wet Van Niekerk scoring down the right flank after a multi-phase attack.

 Photos: Paul Rudman (main), Erich Eichhorn (Canada v Brazil), Marcos Harispe (Uruguay v Argentina XV)