Raptors Start Uruguay Tour With Strong Showing Against Los Cuervos

The American Raptors set foot on Uruguayan soil late Sunday evening to kick off a two-week tour of the country that will consist of one scrimmage and two matches.

29 players will represent the Raptors as the team makes its first trip out of the country. Those players include:

• Casey McDermott-Vai
• Garrald McDowell
• Tommy Madaras
• Kaleb Geiger
• Line Latu
• Tani Tupou
• Max Dacey
• Nolan Saraceni
• Ma’ake Muti
• Zach Hall
• Ricky Haley
• Christian Alvarez
• CC Mahoni
• Tai Enosa
• Daytwon Sheridan
• David Still
• Gelen Robinson
• Seimou Smith
• Brady Daniel
• Mikey Grandy
• Justin Barlow
• Pono Davis
• D’Cota Dixon
• Dominic Akina
• Campbell Johnstone
• Mo Vainikolo
• Chase Stehling
• Tre Smalls
• Otto Zaccardo

The scrimmage – which took place late Tuesday evening, saw the Raptors take on Los Cuervos Rugby Club at a dark field just outside of the city. The first portion of the scrimmage saw the forward packs of the two teams get some scum and lineout work in while the opposing backlines had the chance to run some plays against one another.

When that was over, the Raptors and Los Cuervos proceeded to play a live scrimmage for about 40 minutes. The Raptors forwards had their hands full with Los Cuervos in the lineout and scrum work that the teams partook in before the scrimmage, but once the scrimmage started it was all Raptors from there on out.

The Raptors used tries from Dom Akina, David Still, Chase Stehling, and Daytwon Sheridan while only conceding one try on the match’s final play to secure the “victory” in the scrimmage.

The scrimmage was organized to knock the cobwebs off of the Raptors after going two and a half weeks without a match. The last time the Raptors played against someone else was their 49-31 victory over the Utah Warriors Selects at Infinity Park on October 23rd.

With the first scrimmage in the books, the Raptors will now turn their attention to the Uruguayan U23s for two matches over the course of the next 10 days. The first meeting will take place on Sunday evening at the Carrasco Polo Club and they will play their last match of the tour on Friday, November 19 at Estadio Charrua.