Wales 54-9 Uruguay
by David Nicholson
at the Millennium Stadium

A STRONG Wales put away a brave but outmuscled Uruguay in their opening World Cup pool match.

The part-time players and amateurs of Uruguay were never going to pull off a Japan-style shock as their fitness levels were just not up to the job. They looked out on their feet at the half-time whistle.

But after a nervy Wales were penalised in the opening seconds Uruguay’s fly-half Felipe Birches gave the South Americans an early lead.

The Uruguayans looked feisty in the opening exchanges with neat and skilful interplay between the backs.

The visitors burst through the Welsh defence and gained another penalty to make the score 6-0.

Nerves in the crowd were beginning to get twitchy but normal service was soon resumed.

Finally, Wales got some possession in the visitors’ half and immediately moved the ball through the forwards to ratchet up the pressure on the Uruguayan defence.

A driving maul took Wales to within a hair’s breadth of the line. A further driving maul saw the Welsh onto the scoreline with a forward-driven try for Samson Lee.

Wales’s second try came minutes later courtesy of Cory Allen catching and scoring between the posts.

But Uruguay refused to lie down to take the inevitable beating and hit back with a charge towards the Welsh line, earning a penalty to keep them within touch.

Allen got his second try to calm Welsh nerves, leading to some sparkling interplay among the backs.

The Welsh eschewed kicking their penalties, instead seeking tries and those bonus points, but some heroic defending and huge hits denied them for a while.

The South Americans looked all-out on their feet as their defence failed to materialise to stop man-of-the match Allen getting his hat-trick of tries on the stroke of half-time.

That fourth try gained the important bonus point for Wales.

Uruguay failed to contest Welsh line-outs, instead opting to passively try to defend. That led to the fifth Welsh try by winger Hallam Amos.

Wales captain Sam Warburton praised Uruguay, saying: “They’ll be tough opposition for the other sides in the pool.

“I can’t wait to play England next Saturday and, after the Millennium Stadium, Twickenham is my favourite place to play rugby,” Warburton added.

Wales coach Warren Gatland confirmed after the match that centre Allen was a real doubt as he had a “significant tear in his hamstring” and will be scanned today.

Gatland went on to say: “This was a very tough game and Uruguay made it very difficult for us from the start.

“The ball was a bit slippery but I was satisfied to get the first game under our belts.”