Uruguay fell to Germany this afternoon in what was a shock defeat. The 24-21 loss means Uruguay is to fall one place in the World Rankings, to 20th behind Namibia.

The match was a game of two halves. Los Teros were in control in the opening half while it was the Europeans who had the better of play in the second. After just two minutes of play winger Rodrigo Silva crossed for the opening score. It came from a break from fullback Manuel Blengio.

The opportunity to go up 7-0 was not taken as flyhalf Felipe Berchesi missed the conversion. His opposite Christopher Hilsenbeck would respond to open Germany’s account. His first penalty made it 5-3. Germany had the better of play following the penalty and won themselves another. Hilsenbeck made no mistake to give Germany a 6-5 advantage in the opening quarter.

Uruguay looked again to Silva who did not disappoint. 25 minutes into the game and he scored his second try from a nice move with the final pass coming from second row Diego Magno. The team effort was converted by Berchesi. The Carcassonne flyhalf was straight back into the action, kicking a penalty to make it 15 points for Uruguay but Hilsenbeck responded to end the opening half’s scoring at 15-6.

A pumped-up Germany turned the tide in the second half. Just seven minutes after the interval a quick tap from Adriaan Theisinger after a scrum penalty had been awarded landed the big no8 clsoe enough to reach out and touch the line. The home side continued to look for tries and were rewarded soon after. After a kick for the corner, Uruguay foolishly opted not to contest the lineout drive but German skipper Michael Poppmeier reacted quickly, turning around and simply diving over the line.

Hilsenbeck added a penalty to give Germany their first lead of the match but Berchesi erased and and the scores woudl remain level until the final moments of the match. With time up on the clock Uruguay attempted to run from their own end and replacement hooker Dasch Barber, forced to come on at flanker after an injury to Adriaan Theisinger, got in a strong position over the ball to win the penalty at the breakdown. The hero of the day Hilsenbeck did the rest, striking the ball clean through the uprights to secure a famous victory.

Next up for Uruguay is Spain. Los Teros will travel to the southern city of Málaga to take-on the Southern Europeans next Saturday. Germany will play host to Brazil.

SCORING

GERMANY 24

Tries – A. Theisinger (47′), M. Poppmeier (51′)

Cons – C. Hilsenbeck (48′)

Pens – C. Hilsenbeck 4 (17′, 31′, 57′, 80′)

Yellow cards – E. Marks (7′)

URUGUAY 21

Tries – R. Silva 2 (2′, 24′)

Cons – F. Berchesi (25′)

Pens – F. Berchesi 3 (29′, 50′, 66′)

Yellow cards – N. Freitas (31′)

TEAMS

GERMANY

1 Julius Nostadt (17 Jörn Schröder 62’) 2 Mikael Tyumenev 3 Samy Füchsel 4 Erik Marks 5 Michael Poppmeier (capt.) (19 Timo Vollenkemper 60’) 6 Jaco Otto (16 Dasch Barber 62’) 7 Jarrid Els 8 Adriaan Theisinger (20 Sebastian Ferreira 60’) 9 Tim Menzel 10 Christopher Hilsenbeck 11 Marvin Dieckmann 12 Carlos Soteras-Merz 13 Marcel Coetzee (22 Clemens von Grumbkow 62’) 14 Steffen Liebig 15 Raynor Parkinson

Not used: 18 Chris Howells, 21 Rafael Pyrasch, 23 Harris Aounallah

URUGUAY

1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Facundo Gattás 3 Juan Echeverría 4 Diego Magno 5 Diego Ayala (19 Ignacio Dotti 62’) 6 Joaquín Dell’Acqua (20 Juan Manuel Gaminara 58’) 7 Santiago Hernández 8 Gonzalo Soto 9 Guillermo Lijtenstein (capt.) (21 Santiago Arata 67’) 10 Felipe Berchesi 11 Andrés Rocco 12 Nicolás Freitas 13 Jerónimo Etcheverry 14 Rodrigo Silva 15 Manuel Blengio (23 Juan Manuel Cat 62’)

Not used: 16 Marcos Chamyan, 17 Ignacio Secco, 18 Francisco Jiménez, 22 Mauro Daverio

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Lloyd Linton (SRU)

Assistants: Vlad Iordachescu (FRR) & Shota Tevzadze (GRU)

TMO: n/a