Saturday 11 October 2014 21:47, UK
Uruguay booked their place at the 2015 World Cup after beating Russia 36-27 in the second leg of their playoff at Charrua Stadium in Montevideo.
The South Americans will now line up in Pool A alongside hosts England, Wales, Australia and Fiji next year after tries from Joaquin Prada, Alejo Corral and Agustin Ormaechea and a 21-point haul from Felipe Berchesi took them to victory.
It will be the third time Uruguay have played at a World Cup after appearances in 1999 and 2003, but they had to come back from 17-12 down at half-time to qualify.
Russia scored tries through Alexander Ianushkin and Vasily Artemyev, while Yuri Kushnarev kicked 17 points, but they came up just short after winning the first leg 22-21 in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, last week.
It was a tight contest early on with both sides scoring four penalties apiece before Russia, who are coached by Raphael Saint-Andre - brother of France boss Philippe, touched down against the run of play in first-half stoppage time.
Kushnarev made an incisive break on the left and put his half-back partner Ianushkin over in the corner, before missing the conversion.
Kushnarev added another penalty for the visitors, before Uruguay scored their opening try in the 47th minute.
Centre Prada picked the ball up from just outside the Russian 22 and weaved his way past three players to score, with Berchesi adding the conversion to cut Russia’s lead to a single point.
Two tries in nine minutes then put Uruguay in front, with prop Corral finally making the hosts' advantage up front count by crashing over off a maul in the 56th minute, before scrum-half Ormaechea (65) exposed more poor Russian tackling.
The reliable Berchesi kicked both conversions to give Uruguay a 33-20 lead going into the final 15 minutes.
But Russia, down to 14 men after Denis Simplikevich was sent to the sin-bin for a late aerial tackle, set up a thrilling finish when full-back Artemyev found a way over in the corner with just three minutes remaining.
Kushnarev kicked the conversion to cut the deficit to six points, but Berchesi had the final word with another penalty late on to give Uruguay an aggregate score of 57-49 over the two legs.
