Uruguay

All Blacks ease into World Cup quarter finals with big win over Uruguay

After losing their tournament opener to France, New Zealand ran in 11 tries against Namibia, 14 against Italy and added another 11 against Los Teros at OL Stadium.

Damian McKenzie scored two tries and made a couple more in an outstanding display, while winger Will Jordan grabbed his 26th and 27th five-pointers in only his 28th test with a performance just as good.

The other New Zealand outside back, Leicester Fainga'anuku, joined the party late with a second-half hat-trick as the Uruguayans wilted under huge pressure.

Italy come from behind to beat Uruguay

It was Italy's second consecutive bonus-point win and takes them top of Pool A.

Uruguay deservedly led 17-7 at the break and were dreaming of a huge upset after a remarkable opening 40 minutes that began well for Italy, who scored an early try through Lorenzo Pani, but then went badly wrong as poor discipline handed the advantage to the South Americans.

Italy break two-year losing streak

The Azzurri's last victory came against Canada at the Rugby World Cup in September 2019, and the win over the Uruguayans ended a 16-match losing run since then.

New Italy head coach Kieran Crowley suffered defeat in his opening two games against New Zealand and Argentina, but his side held the lead from the 12th minute onwards in Parma after winger Bruno skipped inside two defenders to dot down.

Uruguay upset Canada in RWC qualifier

Canada won their first tie 22-21 a week ago but Saturday's drubbing in Valparaiso, Chile, kept the home team's dream alive to compete at the Rugby World Cup 2023.

"This is a hugely disappointing result - although we remain proud of the staff and players and the efforts they made over the past months, we all know the expectations for Canadian rugby are rightfully higher," Rugby Canada CEO Allen Vansen said in a written statement.

Chile will face the United States in a two-legged tie next year to decide which team will feature in France 2023.

Uruguay stun Fiji in Kamaishi

The South Americans, mostly amateurs, led 21-12 at halftime on the back of converted tries from halfback Santiago Arata, number eight Manuel Diana and centre Juan Manuel Cat as well as a penalty from Felipe Berchesi.

First five Berchesi kicked two more penalties in the second half to keep the scoreboard ticking over as the Fijians fought to get back in the game and Los Teros held on to claim their third victory in 12 World Cup matches.

Fiji's fresh faces challenged to fire in next Rugby World Cup game against Uruguay

The Flying Fijians threatened an almighty upset against Australia on Saturday, leading the two-time champions for large periods of the game in Sapporo before fading in the final stages of the 39-21 defeat.

Captain Dominiko Waqaniburotu, Leone Nakarawa and Semi Radradra are the only players asked to back up in the starting 15 against Uruguay and coach John McKee has challenged the new players in the team to put up their hands and play well.

Argentina and Uruguay scramble to restore power after massive outage

Argentine President Mauricio Macri has promised a full investigation.

Argentine media said the power cut occurred shortly after 07:00 (11:00 BST), causing trains to be halted and failures with traffic signalling.

The blackout was prompted by a failure in an electrical grid that serves both Argentina and Uruguay.

The outage occurred as people in Argentina were preparing to go to the polls for local elections, delaying voting in several regional provinces.

Parts of Paraguay were also affected, a state energy company said.

     

Uruguay 0 France 2

Following an opening passage high on energy but bereft of quality, Varane glanced home a Griezmann free-kick to open the scoring before the Atletico Madrid man doubled France's advantage just after the hour mark in a moment to forget for Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.

Griezmann found space 25 yards out and fired in a shot that should have been routine for Muslera but the ball slipped through his grasp and into the net.

Tabarez won't confirm Cavani return

The Paris Saint-Germain striker resumed team training on Thursday following a hamstring injury he suffered in the 2-1 last-16 win over Portugal.

Cavani's return to the practice pitches at Uruguay's team base in Borsky came as a huge boost to Tabarez's plans for the clash with France at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.

However, the 71-year-old was left frustrated by some of the media coverage of his forward's injury and recovery, so therefore said he will not disclose his team.

Uruguay 1 Saudi Arabia 0

Uruguay's result also means hosts Russia, who have won their opening two Group A matches, are through to the next phase with one fixture to spare, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia are both out of the tournament.

Saudi Arabia gave a far better performance than they produced in their 5-0 loss to the hosts but a poor mistake from replacement goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais handed the South Americans the winner in Rostov-on-Don on Wednesday.