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Uruguay’s penultimate match before departing for RWC 2019 will take place this evening. Los Teros will take on South America’s next ranked team, Brazil. While the match will feature the senior sides of both teams, it will not be considered a full test – hence both teams will be given the ‘XV’ classification and no caps awarded.
Having completed a win over the Sudamérica XV last Saturday this evening’s match will go very far to finalizing the plans for Japan. In all a massive eleven changes have been made to the starting line-up with some revealing selections.
Surprises from Head Coach Rodolfo Ambrosio come in both the forwards and the backs. Regular starting flanker, Franco Lamanna has been named out of position in the second-row. He will join Manuel Leindekar with both Ignacio Dotti, and Diego Magno covering from the bench.
With Lamanna playing lock there is an opportunity for Manuel Ardao on the side of the scrum. Having been a star flanker for Uruguay u20s, Ardao was moved to hooker in 2018 by Ambrosio and started against Fiji in November.
In the backs an experiment sees Felipe Etcheverry named at fly half. Having made his test debut against Russia in June at fullback he is now to be trialed in a vastly different position. While the position may be new his name is not a surprise given his tremendous performances in 2019 for Uruguay and the Uruguay XV.
The remainder of the starting backline is either clear first choice or a disputed starter. This sees Santiago Arata starting ahead of Agustín Ormaechea at scrum half; and Gastón Mieres ahead of Rodrigo Silva at fullback.
Brazil have opted for some experimentation of their own. This sees regular starters Lucas Abud, André Arruda, and Josh Reeves among the replacements.
Opportunities have been given to Brendon Alves at loose head prop; Pedro Bengalo at tight head prop; Matheus Souza at N8 and Moisés Duque at fly half. The team selected is, nonetheless, extremely potent by Brazilian standards.
Among the big name players are the Sancery twins at outside center and fullback; Lucas Tranquez on the right wing; Yan Rosetti at hooker; Gabriel Paganini in the second-row; and Cleber Días at flanker.
Uruguay and Brazil met earlier in the year in the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC). Los Teros claimed a 42-20 home victory to finish the ARC in second spot behind the unbeaten champions, the Argentina XV.
The likely outcome of tonight’s encounter is similar to that from March. Uruguay are favorites to complete a win over Brazil by 16 points.
URUGUAY XV
1 Facundo Gattas, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Franco Lamanna, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Juan Manuel Cat, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Gastón Mieres
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujardas, 17 Juan Echeverría, 18 Juan Pedro Rombys, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Ignacio Dotti, 21 Agustín Ormeachea, 22 Ignacio García, 23 Federico Favaro, 24 Tomás Inciarte, 25 Agustín Della Corte, 26 Rodrigo Silva, 27 Leandro Segredo, 28 Juan Manuel Gaminara, 29 Santiago Civetta
BRAZIL XV
1 Brendon Alves, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Pedro Bengalo, 4 Lucas Piero, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Arthur Bergo, 7 Cleber Días, 8 Matheus Souza, 9 Laurent Bourda-Couhet, 10 Moisés Duque, 11 Ariel Rodrígues, 12 de wet van Niekerk, 13 Felipe Sancery, 14 Lucas Tranquez, 15 Daniel Sancery
Replacements: 16 Endy Willian, 17 Lucas Abud, 18 Joel Ramírez, 19 Luiz Vieira, 20 Devon Müller, 21 Douglas Rauth, 22 Josh Reeves, 23 Daniel Lima, 24 Robert Tenório, 25 André Arruda
Date: Friday, August 30
Kick-Off: 7:10pm (Uruguay)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
