Rugby World Cup 2019: I’m really proud of my country – Gaminara delight at Uruguay triumph

Emotional Uruguay captain Juan Manuel Gaminara was brimming with pride after his side stunned Fiji at the Rugby World Cup.

Santiago Arata, Manuel Diana and Juan Manuel Cat crossed for first-half tries and Felipe Berchesi kicked 15 points in a thrilling 30-27 victory in Kamaishi.

Fiji had won their previous three Tests against Uruguay by an average of 36 points but Gaminara and his team-mates would not be denied.

“I’m really proud of my country, we’re not the biggest, we’re not the tallest, but we came here to win,” he said, while seemingly on the brink of tears.

“We are preparing this for four years, so I’m really proud of my country.

“We never had anything granted, we always have to qualify first and then come to the World Cup. Since we qualified we’ve been thinking about this game and you saw the passion. I am really proud.”

¡FELICITACIONES CAPITÁN! @Juangaminara @RugbyUruguay #RWC2019 #RWCKamaishi #FIJvURU #WebbEllisCup pic.twitter.com/j22mhDlYvK

— Rugby World Cup ES (@rugbyworldcupes) September 25, 2019

Fiji coach John McKee questioned his side’s mental toughness.

“Credit to Uruguay, the way they played this afternoon and the attitude they brought to the game, they got a great result,” he said.

“For us, we were off the pace in the game, made critical errors, gifted them tries and we just didn’t have the mental toughness to get back into the game.

“At half-time we thought we’d made some errors, they’d scored three tries off our errors basically, but we had been playing well.

“We were focusing on keeping the ball, not turning the ball over. In the first half we turned the ball over on the edges too often, we really believed we could fight our way back into the game.

“We’ve got to get ourselves off the floor now. We’re playing Georgia in eight days’ time and it’s a massively important game for us.”

Georgia are also up next for Uruguay in Pool D on Sunday, with Fiji then taking on the eastern European side on October 3.

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