The USA Selects pulled off an astounding performance at the Old Christians rugby ground in Uruguay, beating the Uruguayan national team 13-3 in very difficult conditions.

The game was a grand battle, asking much of the physicality of both sides. With little space to work with and the forwards allowed to slow ball down in the rucks, offense was at a premium, and so was scoring.

The USA held a slim 3-0 lead into halftime thanks to a penalty goal from wing Zach Pangelinan. It certainly could have been more as flyhalf Shalom Suniula pulled off a nifty sidestep and break on a counter. He fed Pangelinan who booted the ball toward the tryline. The Uruguay cover defense was there, and a penalty in the scrum prevented a potential try a few minutes later.

That moment was a bit of a turning point. At that scrum lock John Cullen got into it with some of the Teros forwards, and received a yellow card for his efforts.

Yet, somehow, the USA defense, with John Quill, Lou Stanfill, and Seamus Kelly featuring, held.

The Selects forwards kept battling in the rucks, and held on for the half.

The first half ended with prop Olive Kilifi sin-binned for collapsing the scrum. That made things even tougher for the USA Selects, although they had plenty of good news in the scrums Thursday night, taking a couple of tightheads and earning a couple of penalties, too.

Down a man the Eagles held on, and were aided by a couple of missed penalty attempts by Manuel Blengio. Having dodged that bullet, and up to 15 men again, the Eagles held on defensively, and tried to use Suniula and center Leomoto Filikitonga to batter through the Uruguayan line. They made a few promising forays, but the battle in the rucks didn’t make it easy. And when Kilifi was sin-binned for a second time, and thus given a red card, with 15 minutes to go, it all looked like it would fall apart. Blengio tied the game with a penalty kick, and then Pangelinan missed one. 

But somehow, in the final ten minutes, it was the USA team that finished with more passion and desire. They were helped by the appearance for USA flyhalf heir apparent Alan “AJ” MacGinty. MacGinty came on as a sub at flyhalf and touched the ball six times - each time created something good for the USA.

His first real touch was in open play, and he put a grubber through for Tim Stanfill to chase. The ball rolled into touch, but Kyle Sumsion stole the lineout throw and almost scored. He was stopped, but the Teros were penalized, and from the ensuing lineout, the USA mauled over the line, with John Quill scoring one of the more improbable USA tries. MacGinty’s next touch was the difficult sideline conversion, which, if made, would essentially ensure the USA couldn’t lose the match. He made it.

Uruguay were penalized on the restart, and MacGinty kicked from just outside his 22 a good 60 meters to around the Uruguay 22, completely turning around the field position for the USA. From that lineout, the Eagles earned a penalty, and MacGinty’s next touch was to put the ball over the bar for a 13-3 lead. There was a little time left to play, but not much, and that was the game.

Just about every forward did something heroic, as it was a war on the Old Christians field. Ronnie McLean had some work to do at fullback and fielded the kicks well, while Kelly and Filikitonga had some good offensive moments. It wasn’t pretty - playing Uruguay rarely is - but for sheer guts and determination, this was a special win.

USA Selects 13

Tries: Quill

Convs: MacGinty

Pens: Pangelinan, MacGinty

Uruguay 3

Pens: Blengio

USA Rugby Selects | v. Uruguay
1. Nick Wallace
2. Zach Fenoglio
3. Olive Kilifi
4. Louis Stanfill
5. John Cullen
6. Alastair McFarland
7. John Quill
8. Matt Trouville
9. Robbie Shaw
10. Shalom Suniula
11. Zach Pangelinan
12. Lemoto Filikitonga
13. Seamus Kelly (C)
14. Tim Stanfill
15. Ronald McLean

USA Rugby Selects Subs (All Subs were used)
16. Mike Shepherd
17. Chris Baumann
18. Angus MacLellan
19. Nick Barrett
20. Kyle Sumsion
21. Niku Kruger
22. Chad London
23. Alan MacGinty

URUGUAY: 1) Alejo Corral, 2) Carlos Arboleya, 3) Oscar Durán; 4) Mathias Palomeque , 5) Jorge Zerbino; 6) Fernando Bascou, 7) Diego Magno, 8) Santiago Vilaseca, 9) Alejo Durán, 10) Manuel Blengio; 11) Santiago Gibernau, 12) Alberto Román, 12) Joaquin Prada, 14) Leandro Leivas; 15) Jeronimo Etcheverry. HEAD COACH: Pablo Lemoine

SUPLENTES URUGUAY: 16) German Kessler, 17) Juan Echeverria, 18) Mateo Sanguinetti, 19) Ignacio Dotti, 20) Mathias Braun, 21) Agustin Alonso, 22) Rodrigo Silva, 23) Francisco Bulanti