Rugby World Cup France-Uruguay 27-12 – La Gazzetta dello Sport

France won, but Uruguay was the real winner of the match in Lille. The hosts’ second match at the Rugby World Cup ends 27-12. After the success over the All Blacks on their debut (27-13), coach Galthie’s team thus regains command of Pool A, but with 8 points, only +3 over Italy. Not as predictable, given Lille’s opponent. Instead, coach Esteban Meneses’ Uruguay surprised and held the field against a rival with whom on paper there was very little to do. Three goals to two: that’s the end. The Teros will return to action on Wednesday in Nice against Italy. It won’t be easy, as seen against France: the Azzurri will have to interpret the match with the utmost attention and concentration.

Presidents

—

Also in the stands in Lille are the two Presidents of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron and Luis Lacalle Pou. After the place with which in the 3rd minute Melvyn Jaminet opens the score, in the 6th minute he concludes a nice move in advance and quickly, served by a lateral kick from Felipe Etcheverry, the winger Nicolas Freitas takes advantage of Jaminet’s indecision, with a kick anticipates him and extends the ball towards the flag, then swoops down on it to crush it. The reaction of the Bleus, on the pitch with a revolutionized formation compared to the debut, is very violent, and materializes with the goal of Antoine Hastoy, who on Maxime Lucu’s short pass finds a hole between two yellow shirts and rushes into the goal. Jaminet converts and then scores a free kick. In the 27th minute a messy tackle on the midfielder Santiago Arata costs Romain Taofifenua a yellow card: the elbow to the face is violent, but also caused by an almost simultaneous tackle which moves the Uruguayan number 9, putting him in collision with the second line, which moreover seeks to go low and therefore the yellow remains yellow. Uruguay plays an aggressive match, with excellent intensity: obviously at a very high pace there is no shortage of technical flaws (dropped balls, wrong touches, imprecise kicks), but Meneses’ team confirms that they are well physically prepared, very ferocious in the breakdown and organised. in its simplicity, defensive and offensive. Giving shivers to the Piere-Mauroy fans in the 34th minute: from a touch point at 5 metres, in the first phase Etcheverry flies in the goal, but what opens the way for the Uruguayan opening is an irregular block by the center Tomas Inciarte. The 13-5 at which we go to half-time suits the French very well.

Errors

—

The start of the second half saw the Teros open dangerous spaces in the French 22, but small errors penalized them. France misses a place with Jaminet and sees Gabin Villiere’s try disallowed, launched by an involuntary shoulder touch from Anthony Jelonch. On the other hand, Baltazar Amaya’s try in the 53rd minute was good and spectacular: from a possession well defended by the forwards just outside the 22, a fast ball came out from Etcheverry at the far end, who avoided three Frenchmen and flew to smash. Etcheverry converts it for the incredible -1, but good luck immediately helps the Blues: Etcheverry hits a teammate in an attempt to free the 22, Peto Mauvaka pounces on the ball and the strong hooker breaks through under the posts (Jaminet converts). Another ball dropped to the ground as the maul advanced 5 meters away cost the Uruguayans a big chance in the 67th minute, but shortly afterwards, incredibly, the same thing happened to the French 10 meters away. In the 73rd minute it was the 20-year-old winger Louis Bielle-Barrey who secured the victory, freed wide on the left by a precise advancing action from the front and by the beautiful hands of Hastoy (Jaminet converted). Uruguay generously closes in on the opponents’ 22, they can even throw four very deep touches, but between disastrous throws and effort, they can no longer get anything out of it.