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Uruguay will play at Rugby World Cup 2023. Los Teros earned the right to compete at the tournament by winning the South American qualifiers and then defeating the USA on aggregate in the Americas 1 final. The outcome is that Uruguay will face France, Italy, New Zealand, and Africa 1 in Pool A.
Pool A will be a demanding group. Los Teros will need to be well prepared for what is ahead of them. The same applied last time around; few gave Uruguay a chance of competing against Fiji. The historic win in Kamaishi, Japan was Uruguay’s greatest rugby result. Could it be repeated at RWC 2023? Could Uruguay go one better and defeat Italy and Africa 1? They will aim to do so.
Uruguay will have a large supply of players from RWC 2019 who are still on the roster for RWC 2023. There have already been changes with a few more possible, though, for the most part, the changes have already been made.
Unlike RWC 2019, Uruguay will head into the 2023 tournament with a professional team. Peñarol were beaten finalists in the 2021 Sùper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). The team’s roster was predominantly Uruguayan. 27 of Peñarol’s 32 players are Uruguayans. The five foreigners are all Argentine and covered positions that Uruguay happens to have players in foreign professional leagues.
Uruguay’s Peñarol players are well-placed to be on the Teros roster. They will be joined by players based in Europe and Major League Rugby (MLR). There may be changes based on SLAR in 2022 and 2023. Moreover, there is a chance that the second Uruguayan SLAR side will be off the ground in 2023.
PROJECTED FIRST XV
| ## | PLAYER | CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| 1 | Mateo Sanguinetti | Massy (FR) | LH | 70 |
| 2 | Germán Kessler | Provence (FR) | HK | 54 |
| 3 | Diego Arbelo | Peñarol | TH | 15 |
| 4 | Ignacio Dotti | NOLA Gold (US) | LO | 54 |
| 5 | Manuel Leindekar | Oyonnax (FR) | LO | 22 |
| 6 | Manuel Ardao | Peñarol | FL | 12 |
| 7 | Santiago Civetta | Peñarol | FL | 14 |
| 8 | Manuel Diana | Toronto Arrows (CA) | N8 | 31 |
| 9 | Santiago Arata | Castres (FR) | SH | 45 |
| 10 | Felipe Berchesi | Dax (FR) | FH | 39 |
| 11 | Gastón Mieres | Toronto Arrows (CA) | WI / FB | 77 |
| 12 | Andrés Vilaseca (capt.) | Peñarol | CE | 65 |
| 13 | Nicolás Freitas | Peñarol | CE | 42 |
| 14 | Mateo Viñals | Peñarol | WI | – |
| 15 | Baltazar Amaya | Peñarol | FB | – |
Uruguay’s projected starting line-up is hybrid; it contains Peñarol players and names based abroad. This is shown across positions in both the forwards and backs. As displayed there is also a combination of RWC 2019 players and names who have made it to the top of Uruguayan rugby in 2020 or thereafter.
The young age of the roster from RWC 2019 was a leading factor in the settled nature of the team that defeated the USA to qualify for RWC 2023. All eight of the projected starting forwards for RWC 2023 played in RWC 2023. Notwithstanding, there are missing names; most of which have retired. They include former captain Juan Manuel Gaminara and Juan Rombys.
The changes in the backs from RWC 2019 are also due to off-field reasons. Starting center Juan Manuel Cat and winger Leandro Leivas are both pursuing other activities at present. Thus, changes to the line-up as projected, at present, for RWC 2023 see Manuel Ardao at flanker, Mateo Viñals on one wing and Nicolás Freitas moving from wing to outside center. A final alteration sees the highly promising Balatzar Amaya projected ahead of veteran Rodrigo Silva at fullback.
Is the team more or less certain? Perhaps, though Uruguay’s early qualification for RWC 2023 may now see an acceleration in opportunities for others. Felipe Etcheverry had a solid match at fly half against the USA. This may see him pushing veteran Felipe Berchesi to the bench. The upcoming November 2021 tour to Romania and Italy could provide further insight.
PROJECTED REPLACEMENTS
| 16 | Facundo Gattas | Peñarol | HK | 35 |
| 17 | Matías Benítez | Peñarol | LH | 36 |
| 18 | Juan Echeverría | Peñarol | TH / LH | 58 |
| 19 | Franco Lamanna | Mogliano (IT) | LO / FL | 49 |
| 20 | Maxime Sonneveld | Agronomia Rugby (PT) | FL | – |
| 21 | Tomás Inciarte | Peñarol | SH /CE | 20 |
| 22 | Felipe Etcheverry | Peñarol | FH | 9 |
| 23 | Rodrigo Silva | Peñarol | FB / WI | 67 |
Age is on the side of the vast majority of Los Teros’ players. There are a number of factors why this is so, with the 2016-2019 Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) having been paramount in preparing the players and team for the road to Kamaishi. SLAR has since continued player production.
A domestic professional team has also added to competition for places. The above projection notes Facundo Gattas is ahead of Guillermo Pujadas at hooker and Franco Lammana covering second-row ahead of the Americas’ most capped player, Diego Magno. Maxime Sonneveld is noted as the projected flanker. This is so despite him missing the 2021 SLAR through injury and also missing the RWC 2023 qualifiers. It should be noted that his 2020 performances note him as a real prospect for Uruguay.
Tomás Inciarte’s consistency sees him projected ahead of RWC 2015 and 2019 scrum-half Agustín Ormaechea. He is joined by Felipe Etcheverry and Rodrigo Silva as the projected replacement backs.
PROJECTED TRAVELING REPLACEMENTS
| 24 | Guillermo Pujadas | Peñarol | HK | 17 |
| 25 | Mateo Perillo | Peñarol | LH | 1 |
| 26 | Ezequiel Ramos | Peñarol | TH | – |
| 27 | Diego Magno | Houston SaberCats (US) | LO | 95 |
| 28 | Felipe Aliaga | Peñarol | LO | 2 |
| 29 | Eric dosantos | Peñarol | FL | 6 |
| 30 | Agustín Ormaechea | Nice (FR) | SH | 51 |
| 31 | Juan Manuel Alonso | Brive (FR) | CE | – |
| 32 | Federico Favaro | Peñarol | WI / FB | 36 |
| 33 | José Iruleguy | Peñarol | WI / FB | 1 |
Most of Uruguay’s ten remaining projected players are established names on the roster. This underlines how SLAR has enabled more players to come through the system to create competition for places. Like the roster as a whole, the projected traveling replacements consider selection since RWC 2019, longterm performance and age come RWC 2023.
The projected front-rowers had busy campaigns with Peñarol this year. Diego Magno and Felipe Aliaga are well-placed to make the roster. There is competition from JuanJuan Garese. He will, be back playing for Uruguay when he returns to fitness. Magno and Aliaga will give Uruguay cover for their starting second-row duo. This looms as important so as to avoid moving players out of position as has happened repeatedly to cover second-row; indeed, Eric doSantos is selected as a flanker.
Were it not for his recent move to the Brive Espoirs Juan Manuel Alonso may well have been starting for Uruguay against the USA this month. The fact that he did not sees him lower down at this point. He joins goal-kicking winger Federico Favaro among the projected replacements. Favaro’s inclusion will enable Echeverry to play fly half if desired.
José Iruleguy is another young player who impressed in SLAR. He is another who could rise to be in the starting XV before the World Cup.
