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Game three of Pool A sees hosts France playing for the second time. In a first-ever World Cup meeting, Les Bleus take-on Uruguay. The Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille will be the setting for Uruguay’s first appearance of the World Cup. The South Americans are debuting in what is their fifth Rugby World Cup.
France are on a high. Their opening performance was a success. Les Bleus overcame three-time champions New Zealand on Friday. The 27-13 win was New Zealand’s biggest ever defeat in a World Cup match and first ever in the pool stage.
Les Bleus lost starting hooker Julian Machined early against New Zealand. He remains on the roster but will not face Uruguay and is a doubt for latter pool matches. Notwithstanding, Fabian Galthié has opted to rotate against Los Teros.
Galthié has made twelve changes to his side from that which defeated the All Blacks. The three players who have retained their spots in the starting XV are second-rower Cameron Woke, center Yoram Moefana, and winger Gabin Villière.
The new-look line-up will be led by Anthony Jelonch from N8. Jelonch previously captained France on the 2021 tour of Australia. As was the case on that tour Melvyn Jaminet will do the goal-kicking from fullback.
Jelonch will join Paul Boudehent, and Sekou Macalou in a back-row with plenty of skills, power and pace. They will play behind Woki and veteran second-rower Romain Taofifenua. Up front there are starts for the trio of Jean-Baptiste Gros, Pierre Bourgarit, and Dorian Aldegheri.
The backline is missing captain Antoine Dupont. This enables Maxime Luca to step out of his shadow and play inside La Rochelle’s European Champions Cup winning fly half Antonie Hastoy. They will have plenty of speed to combine with as Villière, Arthur Vincent, and Louis Bielle-Biarrey all start.
Uruguay have gone for an attacking formation. Castres’ start South American, Santiago Arata has recovered from injury to start at scrum-half. He will be partnered by Felipe Etcheverry rather than Felipe Berchesi in the halves. More youth over veterans sees Bautista Basso and Baltazar Amaya staring in the back-three.
Players, other than Arata, who are known to French rugby also start in the back-line. Vannes’ Nicolás Freitas starts on the left wing and Andrés Vilaseca leads the side from inside center. Vilaseca will earn his 76th cap. Tomás Inciarte will start at outside center a year after playing scrum-half for Los Teros.
Guillermo Pujadas starts at hooker. He does so with Germán Kessler missing Uruguay’s World Cup opener. Pujadas joins Mateo Sanguinetti and Ignacio Péculo for an all Peñarol front-row. Felipe Aliaga is preferred to veteran Ignacio Dotti in the second-row. Alaiga will partner Bayonne second-rower Manuel Leindekar.
The back-row contains jackal expert Manuel Ardao, vice-captain Santiago Civetta, and the ever-reliable Manuel Diana. They will have double cover to that of normal as the young Lucas Bianchi and Carlos Deus are both to be replacements.
Eight of Uruguay’s line-up either play in France now or have previously done so. They are forwards Manuel Leindekar, Reinaldo Piussi, and Mateo Sanguinetti, and backs Santiago Arata, Felipe Berchesi, Nicolás Freitas, Agustín Ormaechea, and Andrés Vilaseca.
The match will be refereed by New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe. This is so despite New Zealand also being in the pool containing France and Uruguay. O’Keeffe will be joined by fellow New Zealanders James Doleman and Paul Williams as his assistants.
France has previously played Uruguay twice. Both were part of South American tours in 1960 and 1985. Neither match was allocated test status by France. Other French tours of South America included matches against opposition other than Argentina; however, were not against Uruguay. For instance, France faced Brazil in 1974 and Paraguay in 1988.
TEAMS
FRANCE
1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 4 Cameron Woki, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 6 Paul Boudehent, 7 Sekou Macalou, 8 Anthony Jelonch (capt.), 9 Maxime Lucu, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 11 Gabin Villière, 12 Yoram Moefana, 13 Arthur Vincent, 14 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 15 Melvyn Jaminet
Replacements: 16- Peato Mauvaka, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Sipili Falatea, 19 Bastien Chalureau, 20 Thibaud Flament, 21 Francois Cros, 22 Baptiste Couilloud, 23 Thomas Ramos
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Ignacio Péculo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Bautista Basso, 15 Baltazar Amaya
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Carlos Deus, 22 Agustín Ormaechea, 23 Felipe Berchesi
RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 – FRANCE VS URUGUAY
Date: Thursday, September 14
Kick-Off: 9pm (FR); 4pm (UY)
Venue: Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille (FR)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (New Zealand); Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
vs
COMPLETE RESULTS
1985-06-30 – Uruguay 6-34 France (Montevideo, UY)*
1960-08-20 – Uruguay 0-59 France (Montevideo, UY)*
* Uncapped
