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Uruguay’s final phase ahead of RWC 2019 begins on Saturday. In the first of three home internationals Los Teros are to go up against the Sudamérica XV in Montevideo.
Uruguayan Head Coach Esteban Meneses has named a strong side but not the full-strength line-up expected to open RWC 2019 against Fiji. Starting opportunities have presented themselves to Juan Pedro Rombys, at tight head prop; Manuel Diana at No8; Santiago Civetta at flanker; and Gastón Mieres at fullback.
Rombys will form a front-row trio with German Kesslas and Mateo Sanguinetti. They are to have maximum horsepower behind them with Ignacio Dotti, and Manuel Leindekar forming the second-row combination.
Completing the starting forwards will be a back-row trio of Civetta, Diana, and Juan Manuel Gaminara. The captaincy armband will be worn by Gaminara as per usual. Stand-out flanker Leandro Segredo is among the replacements.
In the backs Agustín Ormaechea starts ahead of Santiago Arata to reform a halves combination with his childhood friend, Felipe Berchesi. This sees Juan Manuel Cat reverting from fly half to outside center to partner Andrés Vilaseca in the mid-field.
Completing the run-on XV will be a back-three of Rodrigo Silva, Nicolás Freitas, and Gastón Mieres. Both Federico Favaro, and Leandro Leivas will feature from the bench.
With the match not being a capped test match there are additional replacements than normal. Ambrosio has named thirteen replacements in all, five more than the regulations permit for test match rugby.
The Sudmamérica XV are coached by former Argentina Head Coach, Daniel Hourcade. El Huevo has players from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile in his starting XV and players from Argentina, Chile as well as a Colombian on the bench.
The Colombian is Carlos Ángulo who currently plays his rugby in Uruguay for Carrasco Polo Club. Should he play he will do so under the captaincy of Brazilian center Felipe Sancery.
Sancery is one of seven Brazilian players named to start the match. The others are Josh Reeves at fly half; André Arruda at N8; Luiz Vieira in the second-row; and Lucas Abud, Wilton Rebolo, and Joel Ramírez as the starting front-row trio.
Viera is to be joined by Argentine Federico Gutierrez in the second-row while Arruda will join Chilean flankers Ignacio Silva and Martín Sigren in the back-row.
Playing inside Reeves in the halves will be Argentine Alfredo Pueyrredón while Chilean Vicente Ayarza is to play outside him at inside center. The remaining starting backs are all from Argentina. Of them Tomás Albornoz is the most notable inclusion and he will start at fullback.
The match is to be give Uruguay solid preparation. Having been together for an extensive period the home side will start the match as favorites. The predicted margin of victory for Uruguay is 15 points.
TEAMS
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Pedro Rombys, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Rodrigo Silva, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Nicolás Freitas, 15 Gastón Mieres
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Gonzalo Soto Mera, 21 Santiago Arata, 22 Felipe Etcheverry, 23 Federico Favaro, 24 Tomás Inciarte, 25 Leandro Leivas, 26 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 27 Leandro Segredo, 28 Manuel Ardao
SUDAMERICA XV
1 Lucas Abud (Brazil), 2 Wilton Rebolo (Brazil), 3 Joel Ramírez (Brazil), 4 Luiz Vieira (Brazil), 5 Federico Gutiérrez (Argentina), 6 Ignacio Silva (Chile), 7 Martín Sigren (Chile), 8 André Arruda (Brazil), 9 Alfredo Pueyrredón (Argentina), 10 Josh Reeves (Brazil), 11 Nicolás Coronel (Argentina), 12 Vicente Ayarza (Chile), 13 Felipe Sancery (Brazil, capt.), 14 Facundo Pueyrredón (Argentina), 15 Tomás Albornoz (Argentina)
Replacements (numbers tba): Mauro Genco (Argentina), Augusto Böhme (Chile), Matías Dittus (Chile), Carlos Ángulo (Colombia), Alfonso Zottola (Argentina), Matías Gómez Vara (Argentina), Kalim Ayub Burlli (Argentina), Alejandro Torres (Argentina), Sergio Espínola (Argentina)
Date: Saturday, August 24
Kick-Off: 2pm (Uruguay)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
