November Internationals 2022 – Georgia vs Uruguay – ARN Guide

After a lengthily wait Georgia and Uruguay rekindle their rivalry. The teams that first clashed at Rugby World Cup 2003 in Sydney, Australia will square-off in Tbilisi on Sunday in the opening weekend of the 2022 November Internationals.

Sunday’s match will see Georgia and Uruguay’s rivalry  enter a third decade. The inaugural fixture was the Lelo’s final fixture in their first World Cup. Los Teros‘ 24-12 win was one of the great days of Uruguayan rugby. Rather than being the first of many matches, that game was the first of what have just been five matches between the teams.

Georgia have named a side featuring a mixture of regular names and new blood. Winger Alexander Todua will earn his 99th cap, hooker Shalva Mamukashvili will earn his 89th and center and captain, Merab Sharikardze will earn his 86th.

On the flip side there are three uncapped players named as replacements. Leinster forward Vakhtang Abdaladze, and the Black Lion duo of Tengiz Peranidze and Luka Matkava are both set to debut. Black Lion have contributed many names to the Georgian roster. The team compete in the Rugby Europe Super Cup.

Many Uruguayans compete in SLAR, South America’s comparative competition to that of the Rugby Europe Super Cup. This has the benefit of enabling players to fill the boots of others missing through injury. A scrum-half crisis has left Uruguay are without Santiago Arata and Agustín Ormaechea. Peñarol regular Tomás Inciarte slots in to wear the 9 shirt.

Uruguay’s formation for the match comes with futher top names out. Arata holds down the starting spot as do Germán Kessler and Nicolás Freitas. All three are French-based with the second and third names having been expected to play against Georgia.

While this may be descibed as minor rotation, Georgia’s line-up is full-strength. Uruguay’s side is one close to it. Recent depth gives Uruguay additional options, though in a nutshell Arata, Kessler and Freitas are the missing names.

Uruguay will put out their strongest pack of forwards since RWC 2019. Mateo Sanguinetti, Guillermo Pujadas, and Ignacio Peculo will have the heaviest second-row pushing behind them; at last Ignacio Dotti, and Manuel Leindekar are together again.

The return of Dotti means Eric Dosantos can play in his natural position of flanker. It also sees Uruguay having the workhorse that is Santiago Civetta on the other flanker and the jackal-expert Manuel Ardao at the back of the scrum.

Tomás Inciarte partners Felipe Berchesi in the halves. It comes with Felipe Etcheverry starting at fullback, a selection to give Los Teros two play-makers. Etcheverry joins Juan Manuel Alonso, and Rodrigo Silva in the back-three. Andrés Vilaseca leads the team from inside center. He will earn his 71st cap.

With two matches to follow for both teams this month starting well will be a priority. Pressure will be on the players to perform well with the carrot of next year’s World Cup being the ultimate motivation.

 

TEAMS

GEORGIA
1 Gurum Gogichashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 3 Guram Papidze, 4 Lado Chachanidze, 5 Konstantin Mikautadze, 6 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Beka Saghinadze, 8 Tornike Jalagonia, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 11 Alexander Todua, 12 Merab Sharikardze (capt.), 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 15 Davit Niniashvili

Replacements: 16 Giorgi Chkoidze, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Vakhtang Abdaladze, 19 Nodar Cheishvili, 20 Otar Giorgadze, 21 Tengiz Peranidze, 22 Luka Matkava, 23 Akaki Tapladze

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Eric Dosantos, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Ardao, 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 11 Juan Manuel Alonso, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Rodrigo Silva, 15 Felipe Etcheverry

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Mathías Franco, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Manuel Diana, 22 Santiago Álvarez, 23 Juan Andrés Zuccarino

Date: Sunday, November 06
Kick-Off: 6:00pm (GE); 1:00pm (UY)
Venue: Dinamo Arena (Tbilisi, GE)
Referee: Paul Williams (NZ)
Assistant Referees: Talal Chaudhry (CA); Anthony Woodthorpe (UK)
TMO: Chris Hart (NZ)

HISTORICAL RESULTS
09-29-2019 – Georgia 33-7 Uruguay (Kumagaya, JP)
06-13-2015 – Georgia 19-10 Uruguay (Tbilisi, GE)
06-11-2013 – Georgia 27-3 Uruguay (Tbilisi, GE)
06-15-2008 – Georgia 20-18 (Bucharest, RO)
10-28-2003 – Georgia 12-24 Uruguay (Sydney, AU)