Uruguay Announce Competitive Roster for World Cup

Uruguay’s 33-man roster for Rugby World Cup has been confirmed. Los Teros will take a roster containing eighteen forwards and fifteen backs. Vannes center Andrés Vilaseca will captain Uruguay in his third Rugby World Cup.

Vilaseca leads an entirely homegrown roster. All thirty-three players were raised in Uruguay. They are products of the national system. The difference between RWCs 2015 and 2019 is the 2023 roster is entirely professional.

The creation of a High Performance system and Peñarol in Super Rugby Americas have lifted the number of professional players and the level of the team notably. Uruguay qualified for Rugby World Cup 2023 as Americas 1. This was better than prior qualifying campaigns.

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 – POSITIONAL SELECTIONS

Head Coach Esteban Meneses has named two loose head props. The vastly experienced Mateo Sanguinetti will play in a third Rugby World Cup. Sanguinetti has 80 caps for Uruguay and experience playing professional rugby in France, USA and Uruguay.

The second loose head is Matías Benítez. He will play in his first Rugby World Cup at the age of 35. Benítez made his test debut against Brazil in 2010. They have been the regular players used in the position under Meneses during the RWC 2019-2023 cycle.

The roster contains three hookers. They are the same three that competed at Rugby World Cup 2023. They play their rugby in three different continents. Facundo Gattas plays for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby, Germán Kessler plays in France while Guillermo Pujadas (plays for Peñarol.

Kessler has been the regular starter under Meneses. He is the most capped of the three with 62 caps. Gattas has 39 and Pujadas has 28 caps. Of note is that Gattas can also play loose head.

The front-row is completed with three tight head props. The trio all play their rugby for Peñarol. Diego Arbelo is the one returning tight head prop from Rugby World Cup 2019. He is joined by Ignacio Péculo and Reinaldo Piussi with the 64 time capped Juan Echeverría missing out.

Arbelo is the most capped with 18 appearances. He is followed by Péculo with 13 and Piussi with 4. Péculo has been a revelation in 2023. He was a stand-out tight-head in Super Rugby Americas 2023 and impressed in Uruguay’s Rugby World Cup warm-up matches.

A notable selection has come in the second-row. Uruguay’s most capped player, Diego Magno has been left out. Magno appeared at Rugby World Cups 2015 and 2019. He started for Uruguay against the Argentina XV this past weekend.

Magno has not been dropped and replaced by another; instead, Meneses will take just three specialist second-rowers to the World Cup. Ignacio Dotti and Manuel Leindekar both also featured at Rugby World Cup 2019. Dotti has 59 caps and Leindekar has 28.

Dotti and Leindekaar are joined by Felipe Aliaga. The 23-year-old made his test debut for Uruguay against Spain in 2020. He is notably taller than Magno. His selection sees Uruguay with a far taller trio of jumpers compared to previous World Cups.

The decision to take three rather than four second-rowers enables an additional back-rower. Uruguay notably have multiple back-rowers who have caps playing in the second-row.

The back-row is a position in which Uruguay has experienced tremendous progress during the RWC 2019-2023 cycle. It has seen an increase of the level pf players fierce competition for places both on the Peñarol and Los Teros back-row.

Five of the seven back-rowers can be listed as flankers. Manuel Ardao has taken over the 6 shirt worn by former captain Juan Manuel Gaminara. He has made it his own with demonstrated excellence as a carrier, defender and at he breakdown.

Ardao and Santiago Civetta are the two returning flankers from Rugby World Cup 2019. They will be joined by Lucas Bianchi, Carlos Deus, and Eric Dosantos. Bianchi and Deus debuted in 2022 while Dosantos debuted in 2020.

The addition al back-rowers are Manuel Diana and Juan Manuel Rodríguez. They have been selected to give the team two options for the N8 position. Diana became the first-choice N8 at Rugby World Cup 2019 and has been highly reliable for Uruguay ever since.

Rodríguez debuted for Uruguay in 2019. He has gone from covering the second-row to getting regular game-time for Peñarol at the back of the scrum. The trio of Rodríguez, Dosantos and Deus cover the second-row position.

The back line sees the inclusion of three specialist scrum-halves. Santiago Álvarez is the newcomers. He made his test debut for Los Teros against Japan in 2022. He joins the two scrum-halves that Meneses took to Japan for Rugby World Cup 2019.

Santiago Arata was Uruguay’s first-choice scrum-half at Rugby World Cup 2019 while Agustín Ormaechea was the first-choice at Rugby World Cup 2015. Arata is commonly considered as Uruguay’s best player. Followers of the Top 14 have even seen him outperform Antoine Dupont for Castres vs Toulouse.

Ormaechea is a second-generation Tero. His father is the oldest player to appear in a Rugby World Cup match. He did so in Uruguay’s inaugural tournament in 1999 at the age of 40. He then coached Uruguay at Rugby World Cup 2023. The legacy continues with Agustín Ormaechea playing in his third World Cup.

The roster contains two fly halves. Both are returning players from Rugby World Cup 2019. Felipe Berchesi will play in his third Rugby World Cup while Felipe Etcheverry will play in his second. The difference between 2019 and 2023 is that Berchesi was firmly the first-choice fly half four years ago but now the players are highly evenly matched.

Berchesi and Etcheverry offer differing attributed. Berchesi has a solid kicking game and is a strong reader of play in vernal. Etcheverry plays with flair and is known for creating opportunities and providing try assists. He was used off the bench at fullback in the famous win over Fiji in 2019.

Captain Andrés Viilaseca is the starting side center. His mid-field partner at Vannes was often Nicolás Freitas though he has been selected for Rugby World Cup 2023 as a winger. This also sees three rather that four names included as the centers.

Meneses made the decision to not select Juan Andrés Zuccarino. It would have given Uruguay a genuine option for not only inside center but also fly half. The two outside centers on the roster are Felipe Arcos Pérez and Tomás Inciarte. Both have plenty of experience playing with their captain. Despite covering the position, Inciarte will not be used at this World Cup at scrum-half.

A large number of five wingers have been selected. This comes with two of them covering center and one covering fullback. Ultimately Diego Ardao and Mateo Viñals were not selected. The five that were selected are Juan Manuel Alonso, Bautista Basso, Ignacio Facciolo, Nicolás Freitas and Gastón Mieres.

Alonso covers wing and both center positions while Basso and Freitas both cover outside center and Mieres covers fullback. Freitas featured at Rugby World Cup 2019 as did Mieres who also played at Rugby World Cup 2015.

Fullback features the young and the old. Baltazar Amaya young Rodrigo Silva. Amaya put in a match winning performance against Romania in 2022. He did so after debuting the prior year also against the Eastern Europeans.

Silva has played both wing and fullback for Uruguay at Rugby World Cups. He and Amaya are two solid options for the position with both capable of starting regardless of the opposition.

Uruguay will take-on France, Italy, Namibia and New Zealand. The matches will be in Lille, Nice and Lyon. Of note is that Uruguay has never previously played a test match against either France or New Zealand.

 

URUGUAY ROSTER – RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023

LOOSE HEAD
Matías Benítez (Peñarol)
Mateo Sanguinetti (Peñarol)

HOOKER
Facundo Gattas (Old Glory DC, US)
Germán Kessler (Provence, FR)
Guillermo Pujadas (Peñarol)

TIGHT HEAD
Diego Arbelo (Peñarol)
Ignacio Peculo (Peñarol)
Reinaldo Piussi (Peñarol)

SECOND-ROW
Felipe Aliaga (Peñarol)
Ignacio Dotti (Peñarol)
Manuel Leindekar (Bayonne, FR)

FLANKER
Manuel Ardao (Miami Sharks, US)
Lucas Bianchi (Peñarol)
Santiago Civetta (Peñarol)
Carlos Deus (Peñarol)
Eric Dosantos (Peñarol)

N8
Manuel Diana (Peñarol)
Juan Manuel Rodríguez (Peñarol)

SCRUM-HALF
Santiago Álvarez (Peñarol)
Santiago Arata (Castres, FR)
Agustín Ormaechea (Nice, FR)

FLY HALF
Felipe Berchesi (Dax, FR)
Felipe Etcheverry (Miami Sharks, US) *

CENTER
Felipe Arcos Pérez (Los Teros 7’s)
Tomás Inciarte (Miami Sharks, US) *
Andrés Vilaseca (Vannes, FR)

WING
Juan Manuel Alonso (Peñarol)
Bautista Basso (Los Teros 7’s)
Ignacio Facciolo (Los Teros 7’s)
Nicolás Freitas (Vannes, FR)
Gastón Mieres (Peñarol)

FULLBACK
Baltazar Amaya (Los Teros 7’s)
Rodrigo Silva (Peñarol)

* Forthcoming announcement of player joining Miami Sharks

 

WORLD CUP WARM UP – URUGUAY FIXTURES

July 29       26-25 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, UY)

August 05 26-18 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, UY)

August 19 33-13 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, UY)

 

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 – URUGUAY FIXTURES

September 14 vs  (Lille, FR)

September 20 vs (Nice, FR)

September 27 vs (Lyon, FR)

October 05      vs (Lyon, FR)