World Cup Radar – URUGUAY – June 2023

Uruguay’s World Cup preparations are well-advanced. The season before Rugby World Cup 2023 saw Uruguayans receiving a record amount of professional game time. Esteban Meneses’ roster will combine Super Rugby Americas players with players based in foreign leagues and on the Sevens Word Series circuit.

Meneses will have more players to choose from that he did at RWC 2019. Peñarol has given Uruguay previously unimaginable resources. Players are no longer amateurs playing in Montevideo. They will gather in Montevideo in late June to begin preparations together ahead of RWC warm-up matches.

The 33-man roster will be confirmed following the warm-up matches. Who will Esteban Meneses take to the World Cup? This is the subject matter of this article. World Cup Radar – Uruguay considers who will make the roster and who will start.

Los Teros will compete in Pool A in France. They will open their campaign in France against Les Bleus in Lille on Thursday, September 14 and play their fourth match on Thursday, October 05 against New Zealand in Lyon.

Meneses and his players are targeting the game’s in between. They are against Italy and Namibia. Uruguay will take-on Italy on Wednesday, September 20 in Nice and then face Namibia on Wednesday, September 27 in Lyon.

Rosters at RWC 2023 will consist of 33 players. This is an increase from 31 from 2019. Three scrum-halves and three hookers have been included. Three loose head and tight heads have also been selected. Four second-rowers have been named.

The remaining positions have one or two players each. They include utility options across back-row positions and in all back positions with the exception of scrum-half.

 

Click here to access Uruguay’s complete list of senior training squads and overseas professionals.

 

PROJECTED 33-MAN ROSTER

FORWARDS (20)
LH – Matías Benítez (Peñarol), Mateo Perillo (Peñarol), Mateo Sanguinetti (Peñarol), HK – Facundo Gattas (Old Glory DC, US), Germán Kessler (Provence, FR), Guillermo Pujadas (Peñarol); TH – Diego Arbelo (Peñarol), Mathias Franco (Peñarol), Ignacio Péculo (Peñarol); LO – Felipe Aliaga (Peñarol), Ignacio Dotti (Peñarol), Manuel Leindekar (Bayonne, FR), Diego Magno (American Raptors, US); FL – Manuel Ardao (Peñarol), Lucas Bianchi (Peñarol), Santiago Civetta (Peñarol), Carlos Deus (Peñarol), Eric Dosantos (Peñarol), Franco Lamanna (Mogliano, IT), N8 – Manuel Diana (Peñarol)

BACKS (13)
SH – Santiago Álvarez (Peñarol), Santiago Arata (Castres, FR), Tomás Inciarte (Peñarol); FH – Felipe Berchesi (Dax, FR), Felipe Etcheverry (Peñarol), Juan Andrés Zuccarino (Peñarol); CE – Felipe Arcos Pérez (Los Teros 7’s), Nicolás Freitas (Vannes, FR), Andrés Vilaseca (Vannes, FR); WI – Baltazar Amaya (Teros 7’s), Juan Manuel Alonso (Peñarol), Gastón Mieres (Peñarol); FB – Rodrigo Silva (Peñarol)

The following table notes the rankings of players across all positions. This has been organized based on the patterns of Esteban Meneses’ selections while considering player availability carefully.

 

PROJECTED FIRST XV

#	PLAYER	CLUB	POS	CAPS
1	Mateo Sanguinetti	Peñarol	LH	77
2	Germán Kessler	Vannes (FR)	HK	59
3	Diego Arbelo	Peñarol	TH	17
4	Ignacio Dotti	Peñarol	LK	58
5	Manuel Leindekar	Bayonne (FR)	LK	25
6	Manuel Ardao	Peñarol	FL	21
7	Carlos Deus	Peñarol	FL	2
8	Manuel Diana	Peñarol	N8	36
9	Santiago Arata	Castres (FR)	SH	45
10	Felipe Berchesi	Dax (FR)	FH	43
11	Gastón Mieres	Peñarol	WI	80
12	Andrés Vilaseca	Vannes (FR)	CE	72
13	Nicolás Freitas	Vannes (FR)	CE	48
14	Baltazar Amaya	Los Teros 7’s	WI	6
15	Felipe Etcheverry	Peñarol	FB	18

The above line-up is that projected to start in Uruguay’s targeted matches. Meneses and the team are aiming high; they have the ambition of defeating Namibia and Italy. The team is captained by Andrés Vilaseca from inside center. He played at RWCs 2015 and 2019 and led Peñarol to the SLAR 2022 title.

Vilaseca and Nicolás Freitas both play for Vannes. They were the regular centers for Peñarol before moving to France. Tomás Inciarte was scrum-half but played center throughout Super Rugby Americas 2023. ARN projects this to have an impact on the roster with Agustín Ormaechea’s spot threatened. Santiago Arata and Felipe Berchesi are settled as the starting halves.

There is less clarity on the back-three. ARN projects Meneses to continue with Felipe Etcheverry at fullback. Etcheverry has been excellent for Peñarol at fly half and will provide a second play-maker. This works well with the ball-carrying Vilaseca at inside center. Gastón Mieres and Baltazar Amaya see off legitimate competition to be the favored starting wingers.

Germán Kessler, Diego Arbelo, Manuel Leindekar, Manuel Ardao and Manuel Diana are all assured of their spots in the starting forward pack. Veteran loose head Mateo Sanguinetti is slightly ahead of Matías Benítez. Ignacio Dotti has had injury set-backs in 2023 but his physicality and combination with Leindekar make him well placed.

Ardao and Diana are projected to be joined by Carlos Deus. This is a notable selection. It comes on the back of a fantastic season of Super Rugby Americas. This has been the case while regular flanker Santiago Civetta has been undergoing recovery following surgery. In addition, injuries have meant that Eric Dosantos has received limited game-time.

 

PROJECTED ALTERNATIVE XV

#	PLAYER	CLUB	POS	CAPS
1	Matías Benítez	Peñarol	LH	43
2	Guillermo Pujadas	Peñarol	TH	25
3	Ignacio Péculo	Peñarol	LH	11
4	Felipe Aliaga	Peñarol	LO	4
5	Diego Magno	American Raptors (US)	LO	103
6	Eric Dosantos	Peñarol	FL	14
7	Santiago Civetta	Peñarol	FL	23
8	Lucas Bianchi	Peñarol	N8	7
9	Santiago Álvarez	Peñarol	SH	5
10	Felipe Etcheverry	Peñarol	FH	18
11	Juan Manuel Alonso	Peñarol	WI	7
12	Juan Andrés Zuccarino	Peñarol	CE	2
13	Felipe Arcos Pérez	Los Pumas 7’s	CE	8
14	Nicolás Freitas	Vannes (FR)	WI	48
15	Rodrigo Silva	Peñarol	FB	76

The projected alternate line-up is not a team selected for a match per se; rather, it contains the players deemed to be the next-in-line. In the event of an injury then the player listed is the man expected to start. Similarly, if the staff decide to rotate for a match then the player listed would be called-up.

Every player has featured under Meneses. Guillermo Pujadas is considered above Facundo Gattas for the replacement hooker spot. Franco Lammana is selected as a flanker with Felipe Aliaga and Diego Magno the back-up second-rowers. ARN interprets the 2023 activity as Dosantos and Civetta being back-up flankers and Lamanna as a utility option. Lucas Bianchi covers all three back-row spots. He and Civetta could easily trade spots.

Veteran scrum-half Agustín Ormaechea has been overtaken by Santiago Álvarez. This makes the RWC warm-up matches all the more important for both men. Felipe Etcheverry is the cover at fly half and Juan Andrés Zuccarino is a natural fly half though is selected in this line-up to cover inside center. Zuccarino has played most of Super Rugby Americas 2023 in the 12 shirt.

Zuccarino and Tomás Inciarte have been teammates in many of Peñarol’s 2023 matches. With Felipe Arcos Pérez missing Super Rugby Americas to play on the Sevens circuit it is possible that Inciarte is ahead of him. Notwithstanding, Arcos Pérez was busy for Los Teros in 2022. This was with Inciarte at 9 and Arcos Pérez at 13. This also means that if both are to make the roster then two rather than three scrum-halves will make the final cut.

Of note is that Zuccarino’s selection means that there is no place for Juan Manuel Cat. The starting outside center from RWC 2019 now plays in Argentina. He is a regular in URBA at inside center. He is listed as a non-traveling replacement.

Either Felipe Arcos Pérez and Tomás Inciarte can cover Nicolás Freitas in the alternate line-up. Freitas also covers wing. Both these facts match selection from Japan 2019. Juan Manuel Alonso is deemed the traveling replacement winger and can also play either center. Rodrigo Silva as the traveling replacement fullback. Alonso also covers outside center and Silva covers wing.

 

NON-TRAVELING REPLACEMENTS

POS	PLAYER	CLUB	CAPS
LH/TH	Juan Echeverría	American Raptors (US)	64
HK	Emiliano Faccennini	Peñarol	2
TH	Reinaldo Piussi	Peñarol	1
LO/FL	Juan Manuel Rodríguez	Peñarol	2
LO	Agustín Morales	Peñarol	–
N8	Manuel Rosmarino	Peñarol	–
SH	Agustín Ormaechea	Nice (FR)	54
FH/CE	Juan Manuel Cat	CUBA (AR)	34
CE	Bautista Basso	Los Teros 7’s	2
WI	Mateo Viñals	Los Teros 7’s	3
FB	José Iruleguy	Los Teros 7’s	2