Brazil win South American title – again
Brazil were again far too good for the rest of South America, reaching the final with ease and only finally conceding a try when the title was all-but won.
Published by John Birch, February 19th, 2017
2 minute read
Brazil predictably stormed through the opening day to win their pool with big wins over Uruguay, Venezuela and Paraguay. Hosts Argentina and Colombia, as expected, came down to the final game of the day to decide their pool, Argentina – despite having the less impressive results to that point - taking the game 17-0.
The top two teams in the pools were generally comfortable quarter-final winners, though Venezuela nearly surprised Colombia, and the following “Gold” semi-finals were similarly one-sided, leading to expected Brazil v Argentina final.
Before that, Colombia and Paraguay met for third place – and also a place in the World Series qualifier in Hong Kong in April. With so much at stake, the game proved to be incredibly tight, Colombia scoring the game’s only try early in the second half.
In the final Brazil proved to be at a different level to Argentina. Strength, speed, power, experience and tactical knowledge saw Brazil race to a 19-0 lead at half-time.
However, straight from the restart Argentina pulled a try back, and added a second shortly before the end. It was a brave effort, but could not stop Brazil from winning their 14thtitle.
Pool: Paraguay 10–5 Venezuela; Brazil 52–0 Uruguay; Colombia 38–7 Chile; Argentina 31–10 Perú; Venezuela 32–0 Uruguay; Brazil 45–0 Paraguay; Colombia 33–7 Perú; Argentina 29–0 Chile; Paraguay 46–0 Uruguay; Brazil 31–0 Venezuela; Chile 14–0 Perú; Argentina 17–0 Colombia.
P
W
L
F
A
Pts
Brazil
3
0
128
0
9
Paraguay
2
1
56
50
7
Venezuela
1
2
37
41
5
Uruguay
0
3
0
130
3
P
W
L
F
A
Pts
Argentina
3
0
77
10
9
Colombia
2
1
71
31
7
Chile
1
2
21
67
5
Peru
0
3
17
78
3
Quarter-finals: Paraguay 24-0 Chile; Argentina 24-7 Uruguay; Colombia 10-7 Venezuela; Brazil 53-0 Peru
Bronze semi-finals: Chile 14-0 Uruguay; Venezuela 27-10 Peru
Gold Semi-finals: Argentina 38-0 Paraguay; Brazil 27-0 Colombia
7th place: Uruguay 0-24 Peru
5th place: Chile 0-19 Venezuela
3rd place: Paraguay 0-5 Colombia
Final: Brazil 26-12 Argentina