Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Los Teros will conclude their on-field preparations for the World Cup on Friday. Uruguay play host to the Argentina XV at the Estadio Charrúa. While the match is being promoted as Uruguay vs Argentina it is, in fact, Argentina’s next-of-XV and not Los Pumas.
Prior versions of the next-of-XV date back decades, however, the Argentina XV officially came into being in 2015. Since the creation there have been fourteen matches between the Argentina XV and Uruguay. The Argentina XV has 9 wins and Uruguay 4. Their 2022 clash was a 26-26 draw.
Uruguay’s players are under severe pressure. The match falls three days before Esteban Meneses announced his roster for the World Cup. There are 33 spots on the roster and 23 players will face the Argentina XV in Friday’s final warm-up match.
The non-capped status of the match enables for the match-day rosters to be extended. The Argentina XV have three more names than normal on their replacements while Uruguay will field the regular eight.
Uruguay’s line-up is close to the genuine article. That is to say it is almost entirely first-choice. Santiago Arata is out through injury but will join the team in France. Otherwise, all players in the run-on team are certainties for the World Cup. Not all are assured of starting placed; hence, the significance of a strong showing against the Argentina XV.
Mateo Sanguinetti, German Kessler, and Ignacio Peculo will be the starting front-row. This is likely to be the same formation that Uruguay uses for the key World Cup matches against Italy and Namibia.
The second-row is possibly half-accurate. Veteran Diego Magno joins Top 14 lock Manuel Leindekar. The former has been a replacement during the RWC 2019-2023 cycle. There is no specialist second-rower on the replacements for this match.
The back-row of Manuel Ardao, Santiago Civetta, and Manuel Diana well well be the top three players. Doubts are over whether Civetta will retain his spot given he missed Super Rugby Americas and Carlos Deus and Lucas Bianchi both stood out.
The back-line features veteran Agustín Ormaechea at scrum-half. He will not partner his colleague for RWC 2015, Felipe Berchesi; rather, Felipe Etcheverry will start. Berchesi or Etcheverry is one of the biggest unanswered questions that Meneses has to answer when the World Cup begins for Los Teros.
Andrés Vilaseca leads the team from inside center. His Vannes teammate, Nicolás Freitas, will join him in the backline but will play wing rather than his club position to outside center. Tomás Inciarte will playnoutside the skipper.
Freitas will play in a back-three with plenty of finishing capabilities. Veteran Gastón Mieres is looking fort a big performance to earn his spot in a third Rugby World Cup. Fullback Baltazar Amaya is looking to add to his match-winning performance against Romania in November 2022.
The Argentina XV will be captained from fly half. Joaquín de la Vega Mendía is undefeated as captain of the team during the World Cup warm-up period. His understudy has been Julián Hernández who will play this match at fullback. The double play-making attack will be sure to provide Uruguay with plenty of work. Rafael Iriarte is preferred to Ignacio Inchauspe at scrum-half.
The backline has a potent mid-field. Sevens wizard Luciano González Rizzoni and Juan Pablo Castro are both excellent runners. The speed of finishers Lautaro Cipriani and Mateo Soler will mean a lot of action from the visitors.
The Argentina XV forward pack is young but proven. Like the backs, the forwards are products of Argentina’s High Performance system. Dogos and Pampas combine to offer a solid front-row, lineout, scrum, ball carrying, defense and a competitive breakdown.
Argentina’s injuries, included on the World Cup roster, mean attention will be on the second-row. Federico Lavanini and Lautaro Simes are two different players. The former a bulky player similar to his famous older brother. The latter is more comparable to Guido Petti. Either could be a Puma in 2024.
The Argentina XV back-row sees current Pumita Efraín Elías joining Manuel Bernstein and Rodrigo Fernández Criado. All three have played second-row in Super Rugby Americas. They will keep the Uruguayans busy.
As noted, the Uruguayans must front-up. There is unprecedented competition for places. This is true both on the 33-man roster and to be in the starting line-up. Uruguay fielded vastly different line-ups in their wins this month against Chile and Namibia.
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 German Kessler, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Diego Magno, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Baltazar Amaya
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Lucas Bianchi, 20 Eric Dosantos, 21 Santiago Álvarez, 22 Felipe Berchesi, 23 Mateo Viñals
ARGENTINA XV
1 Santiago Pulella, 2 Boris Wenger, 3 Javier Corvalán, 4 Federico Lavanini, 5 Lautaro Simes, 6 Efraín Elías, 7 Manuel Bernstein, 8 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 9 Rafael Iriarte, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (capt.), 11 Lautaro Cipriani, 12 Luciano González Rizzoni, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Mateo Soler, 15 Julián Hernández
Replacements: 16 Ramiro Gurovich, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Renzo Zanella, 19 Lorenzo Colidio, 20 Eliseo Fourcade, 21 Eliseo Chiavassa, 22 Benjamín Grondona, 23 Ignacio Inchauspe, 24 Iñaki Delguy, 25 Benjamín Elizalde, 26 Javier Coronel
Date: Friday, August 18
Kick-Off: 8pm (Montevideo, UY)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo (UY)
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Caua Ricardo (Brazil) Damian Schneider (Argentina)
vs
COMPLETE RESULTS
Oct 23, 2022 – Uruguay 26-26 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
Sep 19, 2021 – Uruguay 19-28 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
Jul 04, 2021 – Uruguay 42-26 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
Oct 25, 2020 – Uruguay 19-53 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
Sep 07, 2019 – Uruguay 24-36 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
Jun 15, 2019 – Uruguay 28-15 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
Fev 23, 2019 – Argentina XV 35-10 Uruguay (Buenos Aires, AR)
Jun 10, 2018 – Uruguay 26-20 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
May 20, 2018 – Argentina XV 54-15 Uruguay (Buenos Aires, AR)
Fev 17, 2018 – Uruguay 17-35 Argentina XV (Punta del Este, UY)
Oct 15, 2017 – Uruguay 07-82 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
Fev 11, 2017 – Argentina XV 57-12 Uruguay (Bahía Blanca, AR)
Fev 20, 2016 – Uruguay 21-24 Argentina XV (Punta del Este, UY)
Aug 01, 2015 – Uruguay 30-26 Argentina XV (Montevideo, UY)
OVERALL RESULTS
Argentina XV: 9 Wins
Uruguay: 4 Wins
Draws: 1
