Ormaechea and Berchesi Reunite to Face Romania

Childhood friends Agustín Ormaechea and Felipe Berchesi will reunite to face Romania. The French-based Montevideo players will start in the halves for Uruguay on Saturday.

Esteban Meneses became Los Teros Head Coach ahead of the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship. This weekend’s match, though, will be his first with Ormaechea and Berchesi playing together. The players last did so against England in Rugby World Cup 2015.

The pairing are charged with ending Uruguay’s underwhelming tour on a high. Coming off losses against Germany and Spain Uruguay is now up against the toughest opponent of the month. The teams met earlier in the year with Romania hammering Uruguay 40-0.

Changes from the loss in Málaga see Rodrigo Silva, Jerónimo Etcheverry, and Juan Echeverría all back in Montevideo. Also missing is the injured Ignacio Dotti and regular skipper Juan Manuel Gaminara, suspended after being sent off for fighting in the match against Spain. With Gaminara out Mario Sagario will wear the captain’s armband. Joaquín Dell’Acqua starts in place of Gaminara at flanker.

Saturday’s match will be played at the Stadionul Arcul de Triumf in Bucharest. Kick-off is scheduled for 6pm local, 1pm Uruguayan time.

URUGUAY
1 Ignacio Secco, 2 Carlos Arboleya, 3 Mario Sagario (capt.), 4 Franco Lamanna, 5 Diego Ayala, 6 Joaquín Dell’Acqua, 7 Santiago Hernández, 8 Gonzalo Soto, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Santiago Arata, 12 Nicolás Freitas, 13 Santiago Gibernau, 14 Mauro Daverio, 15 Manuel Blengio

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Francisco Jiménez, 18 Mateo Sanguinetti, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Marcos Chamyan, 21 Guillermo Lijtenstein, 22 Juan Manuel Cat, 23 Andrés Rocco