ARC Preview – USA vs Uruguay

As the USA‘s rugby future is being tossed around in board rooms across the globe, their present lies in Seattle on Saturday evening when they welcome Uruguay for the first ever international at Starfire Stadium. Los Teros effectively sacrificed the match against the Argentina XV by running out an inexperienced side but they have recalled the majority of their best players with their eyes firmly on upsetting their hosts.

After watching Brazil dismantle the USA scrum a week ago, Uruguay have added Major League Rugby talent in Mateo Sanguinetti, Ignacio Dotti, and Diego Magno to their tight five. Juan Rombys swaps jerseys with Mario Sagario to start at tighthead, and further changes to the back row sees Juan Diego Ormaechea restored on the flank and Alejandro Nieto wearing the No8 shirt.

The return of star scrumhalf Santiago Arata from suspension is a major boost, while Andrés Vilaseca wins his 50th cap beside Joaquín Prada, who himself joined the half-century club last week. Gastón Mieres starts at fullback with Rodrigo Silva injured while playing for MLR side Austin Elite.

Franco Lamanna is back from a year’s absence due to injury and covers both lock and flanker from the bench. With no specialist hooker among the reserves it will be either Facundo Gattas or Juan Echeverría who covers. Gattas started at loosehead prop last week while Echeverría is normally a tighthead but has experience across the front row for Uruguay.

There are two changes to the USA forward pack, both adding considerable bulk. Joe Taufete’e has recovered from a minor knee injury to start at hooker and David Tameilau runs out on the blindside flank with John Quill dropping to the bench.

A change at scrumhalf sees Ruben de Haas starting an Americas Rugby Championship match for the first time with Nick Boyer named on the bench. Mike Te’o misses out so Marcel Brache moves to the left wing and Will Hooley starts at fullback. The new backline reserves are Dylan Audsley and Gannon Moore.

Under normal circumstances the USA would be heavily favored, particularly after their historic highs of 2018 and the one-sided result of last year’s match in Montevideo. Recent performances, however, suggest that the Eagles are vulnerable and Los Teros came close to the upset at San Antonio in 2017.

The biggest problem – figuratively and literally – for Uruguay is the same that plagued Brazil. Los Teros do not have the physical ability to match the power of the likes of Taufete’e and Tameilau up front, while Paul Lasike looms large in the midfield. Uruguay may chop them down early but the attrition will take its toll in the final quarter as the USA pulls away.

Kickoff is set for 7pm local, 10pm Eastern, midnight Montevideo time. Those in the USA can watch live on FloRugby, with ESPN broadcasting in South America. Online streams will be available on TSN in Canada with World Rugby providing coverage to the rest of the world.

USA
1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Nate Brakeley, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 David Tameilau, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Ruben de Haas, 10 Will Magie, 11 Marcel Brache, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Blaine Scully (capt.), 15 Will Hooley

Replacements: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 David Ainu’u, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 Ben Landry, 20 John Quill, 21 Nick Boyer, 22 Dylan Audsley, 23 Gannon Moore

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Rombys, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Diego Magno, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Juan Manuel Cat, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Joaquín Prada, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 Gastón Mieres

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Juan Echeverría, 18 Mario Sagario, 19 Franco Lamanna, 20 Leandro Segredo, 21 Tomás Inciarte, 22 Manuel Blengio, 23 Agustín Della Corte

Date: Saturday, March 2
Venue: Starfire Stadium, Seattle
Kickoff: 19:00 local (22:00 Eastern, 00:00 Montevideo)
Referee: Pali Deluca (UAR)
Broadcasts: ESPN 3 (South America), FloRugby (USA), TSN.ca (Canada), World Rugby