What Los Jaguares started on an historic weekend for South American rugby with victory in their first Super Rugby match, Brazil finished with a last 24-23 victory over USA for a first-ever Americas Rugby Championship success.

Brazil had come close against both Chile and Uruguay, picking up losing bonus points, but they were not to be denied at the Arena Barueri in Sao Paulo with Moisés Duque holding his nerve to slot the winning kick.

Saturday’s other Americas Rugby Championship match was equally as tight with Uruguay running out 23-20 winners over traditional rivals Chile at the Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo in Santiago, a match which saw no fewer than five yellow cards.

Brazil had entered the inaugural Rugby Americas Championship to develop and have grown with each encounter, the reward for winning the first ever meeting between the two sides being a four-place jump to 38th in the World Rugby Rankings on Monday. The Eagles will fall one place to 17th as a result of the defeat and Romania's win over Russia in the European Nations Cup.

The Brazilians, who went into the match ranked 26 places below their visitors, had established an 18-0 lead with their half-back pairing of brothers Lucas and Moisés Duque controlling the game with poise and intelligence.

Fly-half Moisés, the younger sibling, kicked two penalties inside the opening seven minutes as the USA Eagles struggled to impose their physicality and to get out of their own half. It got even better for Brazil when Daniel Sancery scored for the fourth match running, racing down the touchline as the hosts counter-attacked from their own line.

Lucas Duque then got in on the act, finding a gap in the defence to score Brazil’s second try, although his brother failed to add the conversion. The Tupis’ fans though were in heaven, hardly able to believe their side were 18-0 to the good again an albeit youthful USA side.

Brazil kept their visitors scoreless for 30 minutes until James Bird kicked a penalty and the Eagles would go in only 10 points down at half-time after hooker Joe Taufetee barged his way over from short range.

Bird had a hand in the Eagles’ second try, attacking a gap and then offloading for debutant flanker Aladdin Schrimer to touch down and take advantage of Brazil being a man down with another test newcomer Andre Arruda in the sin-bin.

With parity restrored, Moisés Duque kicked his third penalty of the night to make it 21-13 as the heat seemed to sap the energy of both sides, 15 minutes passing before Niki Kruger cut the deficit to just one point with plenty of time to play.

The tired Brazilians lost some of their zest and with eight minutes to go Kruger kicked the Eagles into the lead for the first time. The visitors tried to run down the clock but gave the Tupis one final chance, which they seized upon by kicking a penalty to touch.

From the ensuing maul, one of the USA players strayed offside and the younger Duque needed no second invitation, slotting the penalty and writing a new chapter in Brazilian rugby history.

CARDS APLENTY IN SANTIAGO

The latest encounter between Uruguay and Chile in Santiago bore all the characteristics of one of the strongest rivalries in South American rugby with Los Teros ultimately picking up their second ARC victory and leaving their hosts without a win since round one.

With a lot of history shared by the two teams, the first few minutes were about settling the nerves and they would not have been helped by the scrum proving problematic and generating several penalties in the first quarter.

It was from a lineout, however, that the opening try was scored. Uruguay kicked for touch from a penalty and second-row Mathias Palomeque’s pass sent winger Federico Favaro through the defence to run in from 25 metres unchallenged. 

Fly-half Martín Secco added the extras before metronomic kicker Matías Nordenflycht – the sole Chilean scorer for a second time in the Americas Rugby Championship – kicked three consecutive penalties, the second after Los Teros winger Leandro Leivas was sin-binned for a high tackle. 

As both teams seemed settled to go into the break with the hosts leading 9-7, Uruguay were awarded a penalty, which Secco kicked from 40 metres out. There was time for the kick-off though and Chile maintained possession for two minutes before a cross-kick from fly-half Cristian Onetto, not secured by the Uruguayan defence, allowed Nordenflycht to score from the loose ball in the corner.

There wasn’t much between the teams in the first 16 minutes of the second half as Secco added two penalties and Nordenflycht kicked his third. But repeated infringements forced referee Damián Schneider to issue four yellow cards – three to Chile and one to Uruguay.

Uruguay made good use of the extra space while centre Francisco de la Fuente and winger José Ignacio Larenas were off the field, full-back Rodrigo Silva diving over in the corner before Secco converted from the touchline goal to reclaim the lead. 

With De la Fuente back on the field, it was Uruguay prop Mateo Sanguinetti’s turn for a 10-minute sit-down and Nordenflycht made no mistake with the boot. The next move saw Chile’s replacement prop José Tomás Munita join his fellow front-row on the sidelines.

With both sides down to 14-men, Uruguay managed to maintain their three-point advantage to seal victory and a return to the top 20 of the World Rugby Rankings after swapping places with Namibia. Chile's defeat, in tandem with Germany's historic win over Portugal in the European Nations Cup, sees them drop three places to 27th.

WORLD CUP VETERAN STARS FOR ARGENTINA XV

Argentina XV go into the final round of the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship on top of the table after an eight-try, 54-21 win over Canada in Rosario.

It was a solid win as the Canadians were kept scoreless in the second half and never looked likely to add to the three tries they managed before the break.

The Argentine scrum was huge – in the first one, having pushed back the Canadian pack some 10 yards, the ensuing penalty and lineout became an unstoppable maul from which captain Santiago Iglesias Valdéz scored an unconverted try inside the first two minutes.

Six minutes later, winger Juan Pablo Estellés shot down the blindside and squeezed over in the corner after a series of forward drives had been repelled. The try was successfully converted by full-back Pedro Mercerat.

Trailing 12-0 after 10 minutes, Canada finally got a foothold in the game when, with their first sustained attack, winger Dan Moor crossed for this third try of the tournament, which Andrew Ferguson converted.

After a penalty by Mercerat and a miss from Ferguson, veteran Puma Juan Manuel Leguizamón scored his side’s third try. The veteran of three Rugby World Cups was up in support to finish off a move that started from a kick return inside the Argentina XV half.

From a stolen lineout, Canada worked an opportunity for scrum-half Ferguson to dot down for a try that he converted and, all of a sudden, the visitors were back in the game. Backs and forwards then combined to put Ferguson in for his second and the successful conversion saw Canada hold a short-lived lead.

Gaining possession from the restart, Argentina XV managed to put winger Franco Quaranta into space for a converted try, their fourth of the match, that sent the teams to the break with the home side leading 27-21.

With the match being played in temperatures reaching the high 20Cs, Canada appeared to tire after the break and it wasn’t long before Argentina XV were more than two scores ahead. Mercerat kicked a penalty not long after the restart and then a penalty try was awarded after repeated scrum infringements from the side in red. To compound matters, Canada lost captain Hubert Buydens to the sin-bin.

The extra man advantage was soon evident as Lucas González Amorosino, who will join the Jaguares after the Americas Rugby Championship, scored in the left corner close to the hour mark.

Leguizamón scored a second after 75 minutes, from a superbly-worked first phase move, and wing Estelles ran half the length of the field to touch down the game’s last try in what was a largely error-strewn final quarter.

Canada will now travel to Santiago to play Chile, Argentina will meet Brazil in Sao José dos Campos and the fifth and last round of the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship will be concluded in Montevideo with Uruguay up against the shell-shocked USA.

Americas Rugby Championship 2016 standings - after four rounds

1. Argentina XV – 17 points (+73)
2. USA – 14 points (+71)
3. Canada – 10 points (+2)
4. Uruguay – 10 points (-12)
5. Brazil – 6 points (-33)
6. Chile – 5 points (-101)

Americas Rugby Championship 2016 results and fixtures

Round 1: Chile 25-22 Brazil, Canada 33-17 Uruguay, USA 35-35 Argentina XV
Round 2: Brazil 29-33 Uruguay, Argentina XV 52-15 Chile, USA 30-22 Canada
Round 3: Canada 52-25 Brazil, USA 64-0 Chile, Uruguay 21-24 Argentina XV
Round 4: Argentina XV 54-21 Canada; Brazil 24-23 USA; Chile 20-23 Uruguay
Round 5: 5-6 March - Chile v Canada, Uruguay v USA, Brazil v Argentina

Photo credit: João Neto/Fotojump (main image) / URU / Juan Gasparini UAR/Gaspafotos (Argentina XV)