With two rounds of the Americas Rugby Championship to go, defending champions Argentina XV and 2016 runners-up USA are eight points clear of the chasing pack after maintaining their winning records on Saturday.

Argentina XV made it three wins in as many weeks with a 45-10 win over hosts Chile in Talcahuano, with the Eagles taking a much-deserved but hard-fought 51-34 victory over Canada in Vancouver, in which full-back Mike Te'o (pictured) scored a hat-trick in a man-of-the-match performance.

Uruguay, meanwhile, have moved into fourth place in the standings having won their first match at the third attempt, 23-12 against Brazil in Maldonado.

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In all, 22 tries were scored in a pulsating round of matches that has teed up a potential winner-takes-all title clash between the top two protagonists in Comodoro Rivadavia in the final round of fixtures in two weeks’ time.

Chile 10-45 Argentina XV

Felipe Contepomi’s Argentina XV were clear winners in gorgeous weather in the south of Chile, scoring six converted tries to beat Los Cóndores 45-10. However, resolute defence and aggressive work at the breakdown by the home side, who were playing in Talcahuano for the first time, meant Argentina XV had to work hard to make their superiority count.

Restricting the visitors to just two tries in the opening half spoke volumes about the home side’s commitment to defence. Argentina XV were unable to execute thier expansive game-plan and even their four-try second half effort was below the standard they'd set for themselves.

It was Chile who deservedly took the lead through a 10th-minute penalty from fly-half Jorge Castillo, and Los Condores could have been further in front had an interception attempt gone to hand.

It took until the 14th minute for Argentina XV to get any real momentum and when they managed to control possession and put sustained passages of play together, they scored the first try through captain Juan Capiello. Juan Cruz González converted the try and added a penalty as Argentina XV went 10-3 up.

Even when home prop Claudio Zamorano was sin-binned, Argentina XV found it hard to break down Chile’s defence and the only other try of the half was scored right on the stroke of half-time, in the final play, when full-back Fernando Luna managed to break the last line of defence for a try which González turned into seven points with the conversion.

Having toiled for most of the first half without too much reward, it only took five minutes of the second half for Argentina XV to score their third try, prop Nicolás Solveyra touching down.

At 24-3 down, Chile continued to fight hard at the breakdown but once winger Germán Schulz identified a mismatch with a prop in the defensive line, there was only going to be one winner. Schulz rounded his man and passed to replacement Bautista Delguy for the bonus-point try.

Inside-centre Bruno Devoto ended a good counterattack from deep for try number five, which was again converted, before the crowd at the Talcahuano Stadium were on their feet to applaud Chile’s one and only try, scored in the 67th minute from nigh on halfway by full-back Rodrigo Fernández.

Devoto then scored his second try from a tapped penalty close to the Chilean line and Luna converted to round off the scoring.

Uruguay 23-12 Brazil

Uruguay opened their 2017 Americas Rugby Championship account with a well-earned 23-12 win against Brazil at the Campus de Maldonado. Their bonus-try win was based on the solidity of a pack that contributed the first three tries.

The Brazilians found it hard to handle the pressure the home side put them under and only managed to score through the reliable boot of Moisés Duque, who scored all of his side’s points through four penalties.

Two Duque penalties either side of a try for Los Teros second-row Diego Ayala saw Brazil take an early 6-5 lead. They were not ahead for long, though, after an attempted quick lineout throw went horribly wrong and Ignacio Dotti pounced to join his second-row partner on the score sheet.

Uruguay added a third just before the break, Alejandro Nieto touching down at the back of an advancing five-metre scrum that Brazil were powerless to stop.

Shortly after Duque kicked his third penalty, the industrious Santiago Arata, fresh from scoring a week earlier against Argentina XV, got Uruguay’s bonus-point try in the 45th minute after taking a pass from flanker Gonzalo Soto, whose intial break had set up the opportunity.

Germán Albanell failed with his fourth consecutive kick at goal but he did redeem himself not long after with a 51st-minute penalty from distance, to give Uruguay a 23-6 advantage. It was cancelled out by Duque 14 minutes later.

Despite having little possession throughout, Brazil worked very hard in defence and even down to 14 men – hooker Daniel Danielewicz was sin-binned in the 66th minute – they managed to prevent Uruguay scoring again.

Due to Poland's defeat to Portugal in the Rugby Europe Trophy, Brazil have moved up a place in the World Rugby Rankings to 33rd despite the loss. Uruguay remain 23rd as the match had no impact on their rating.

CANADA 34-51 USA

The USA extended their winning run over Canada to six matches with an entertaining seven tries to five victory at the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.

For the second match running between these sides an Eagles player scored a hat-trick, full-back Mike Te’o following in the footsteps of captain Todd Clever.

The victory improves the Eagles’ World Rugby Ranking by 1.2 points to 66.76 points, moving them to within a point of Romania in 16th place.

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For Canada, the defeat has seen them slip to their lowest ever placing of 20th in the rankings, and they are now only just over one point better off than Spain in 21st.

Tries from winger Ryan Matyas and Te’o, the second converted by Shaun Davies, got the Eagles off to a flying start. With Will Magie slotting a further three points from a penalty, they led 15-0.

Canada stemmed the flow of points against them when an incisive break from first-time test starter Robbie Povey put Taylor Paris in for his fourth try in two games. Phil Mack then sniped over to put Canada right back in it, at 15-12 down.

Davies and Povey exchanged penalties before the USA scored again, on the stroke of half-time, when Tony Purpura was driven over from a lineout. Canada captain and hooker Ray Barkwill had been sent to the sin-bin by then for illegally pulling down an earlier maul.

Teo’s second shortly after the restart saw the USA improve their 25-15 interval advantage, before Clever crossed from a maul for the Eagles’ fifth score.

Taylor bagged his own double as the resilient Canadians refused to throw the towel in but the USA threw on reinforcements and John Quill crashed over not long after joining the fray to make the score 44-20.

Te'o's hat-trick try was sandwiched by scores from Canada's George Barton and number eight Admir Cejvanovic, bringing the score to 51-34.

Next week in the penultimate round, Argentina XV return home to tackle Brazil in Ushuaia, in Patagonia’s deep south, while Chile travel north to the country’s capital Santiago to host the USA Eagles and Uruguay take on Canada at the Campus de Maldonado.

Photo credits: Lorne Collicutt (Canada v USA), Víctor Montalva PressSport/Rugbiers (Chile v Argentina)