Uruguay’s lineup has been named to face the Argentina XV. The team’s will meet in round two of the Americas Rugby Championship on Saturday.
Both Uruguay and the Argentina XV played well in round one. Uruguay pushed the USA hard before falling in the final quarter. The Argentina XV managed to outscore Canada by two tries to zero in the snow.
In looking to upset the tournament favorites, Uruguay have made personal changes. At hooker Martín Espiga replaces Facundo Gattas. He does so with Diego Pombo missing out. Gattas drops to the bench. Juan Echeverría and Mateo Sanguinetti will both again be the starting props.
Ignacio Dotti holds down his starting position in the second row. He will be joined this weekend by Diego Magno. The MVCC lock replaces Diego Ayala. The remaining change to the pack sees Gonzalo Soto named ahead of Franco Lamanna.
Santiago Arata and Germán Albanell retain their places as the halves. They performed very strongly against the USA, regularly creating space for others. They will again have Juan de Freitas and Juan Manuel Cat as their midfield duo.
Rodrigo Silva has been retained at fullback. Silva, though, will be the only member of the back three to retain his spot. Wingers Leandro Leivas and Andrés Rocco both miss out. In their places will be Francisco Berchesi and Super Rugby’s Nicolás Freitas.
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Martín Espiga, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Magno, 6 Rodolfo Garese, 7 Gonzalo Soto, 8 Alejando Nieto (capt.), 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Germán Albanell, 11 Francisco Berchesi, 12 Juan de Freitas, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Nicolás Freitas, 15 Rodrigo Silva
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Felipe Inciarte, 19 Diego Ayala, 20 Manuel Diana, 21 Guillermo Lijtenstein, 22 Lucas Durán, 23 Ignacio García