The build up to Rugby World Cup 2023 continues. Uruguay’s preparations have gone smoothly; players are being conditioned to be at their peak for the tournament. Most of them are home based, all of them are homegrown.
Esteban Meneses has been careful to respond to the media as to what Los Teros goals are for the World Cup in France. He has identified two matches are those to target and getting to them requires the hard work of ongoing preparations.
Uruguay will have a demanding group and match schedule. Los Teros will play in Pool A. They will open their campaign in France against Les Bleus in Lille on Thursday, September 14 and play gheir fourth match on Thursday, October 05 against New Zealand in Lyon.
It is the second and third games that Meneses and his players are focusing on. Uruguay will take-on Italy on Wednesday, September 20 in Nice and then face Namibia on Wednesday, September 27 in Lyon. Efforts will go into overdrive to make every possible effort to win these two matches.
Selections, combinations, injuries, ages all combine to narrow Meneses’ potential World Cup roster. The radar is monitoring all players at home and abroad. Preference will not be given to a Peñarol player over a player based abroad.
Click here to access Uruguay’s complete list of senior training squads and overseas professionals.
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.
| POS | 1st Choice | 2nd Choice | 3rd Choice |
| 1 | Mateo Sanguineti | Juan Echeverría | Matías Benítez |
| 2 | Germán Kessler | Guillermo Pujadas | Facundo Gattas |
| 3 | Diego Arbelo | Ignacio Peculo | Reinaldo Piussi |
| 4 | Ignacio Dotti | Diego Magno | Juanjuan Garese |
| 5 | Manuel Leindekar | Franco Lamanna | Felipe Aliaga |
| 6 | Manuel Ardao | Lucas Bianchi | Juan Martín David |
| 7 | Santiago Civetta | Eric Dosantos | Maxime Sonneveld |
| 8 | Manuel Diana | Carlos Deus | Tomás Etcheverry |
| 9 | Santiago Arata | Agustín Ormaechea | Juan Manuel Tafernaberry |
| 10 | Felipe Berchesi | Felipe Etcheverry | Juan Zuccarino |
| 11 | Gastón Mieres | Bautista Basso | Ignacio Facciolo |
| 12 | Andrés Vilaseca (capt.) | Juan Manuel Alonso | Koba Brazionis |
| 13 | Nicolás Freitas | Felipe Arcos Pérez | Tomás Inciarte |
| 14 | Baltazar Amaya | Mateo Viñals | Nicolás Conti |
| 15 | Rodrigo Silva | José Iruleguy | Ignacio Álvarez |
The table lists 45 players. This is more than the official number of 33 that will compete at the World Cup. The size has been chosen deliberately. Rosters at RWC 2023 will consist of 33 players. This is an increase from 31 from the previous tournament. The 33 players that ARN projects for Uruguay’s roster are those in the color blue above. The remaining names can be considered non-traveling replacements. Thus, an injury to a blue name would see the next listed name selected.
Uruguay’s roster is unique in that there are players in multiple positions, both backs and forwards, who have test starts in more than one position. Tomás Inciarte is listed as the third choice outside center and will likely perform this role. His natural position is scrum-half and will also be Uruguay’s second or third choice player in this position.
Felipe Etcheverry is listed as the replacement fly half though is also selected as a fullback. Nicolás Freitas is first choice center but also wing. Juan Manuel Alonso plays both center positions as well as wing. Gastón Mieres is listed as wing but also plays fullback. The reverse is true for Rodrigo Silva. The utility of such players means Bautista Basso narrowly misses out. A further point is that Juan Zuccarino is third choice fly half but has started for Uruguay at inside center.
In the forwards both Franco Lamanna and Diego Magno have test game time as flankers and second-rowers. Both are considered excluively for the latter for RWC 2023. Eric Dosantos is included as a flanker but has been heavily used as second-row since debuting.
Manuel Ardao is a constant in the starting line-up. It has been at both flanker and N8. For this reason Carlos Deus misses out despite being listed as second choice.
PROJECTED FIRST XV
| # | PLAYER | CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| 1 | Mateo Sanguinetti | Los Cuervos / Peñarol | LH | 77 |
| 2 | Germán Kessler | Provence (FR) | HK | 59 |
| 3 | Diego Arbelo | MVCC / Peñarol | TH | 17 |
| 4 | Ignacio Dotti | Los Cuervos / Peñarol | LO | 58 |
| 5 | Manuel Leindekar | Bayonne (FR) | LO | 25 |
| 6 | Manuel Ardao | Old Christians / Peñarol | FL | 21 |
| 7 | Santiago Civetta | Old Boys / Peñarol | FL | 23 |
| 8 | Manuel Diana | Old Christians / Peñarol | N8 | 36 |
| 9 | Santiago Arata | Castres (FR) | SH | 45 |
| 10 | Felipe Berchesi | Dax (FR) | FH | 43 |
| 11 | Gastón Mieres | Lobos / Peñarol | WI | 80 |
| 12 | Andrés Vilaseca (capt.) | Vannes (FR) | CE | 72 |
| 13 | Nicolás Freitas | Vannes (FR) | CE | 48 |
| 14 | Baltazar Amaya | Old Boys / Peñarol | WI | 6 |
| 15 | Felipe Etcheverry | Carrasco Polo / Peñarol | FB | 18 |
The line-up listed above it the projected team to face France. Three points about this match are of note. First, Uruguay have never played against France. Second, France is where Uruguay’s highest profile players play their rugby. Third, it is Uruguay’s opening fixture of the tournament.
The above combine to place Esteban Meneses in the position of wanting to have a strong performance while being wary of the subsequent matches. ARN has reached the conclusion that Uruguay will field their strongest line-up against France, Italy and Namibia.
Changes from facing France to Italy or Italy to Namibia are expected to be minor. Examples being a change on one wing or flanker. It is on the replacements where changes are projected. This may mean a bench against France of Guillermo Pujadas, Juan Echeverría, Ignacio Peculo, Diego Magno, Eric Dosantos, Agustín Ormaechea, Juan Manuel Alonso and Rodrigo Silva.
The replacements against Italy could take a different form. As such, bench rotation could see opportunities for the likes of Facundo Gattas, Matías Benítez, Lucas Bianchi, Reinaldo Piussi, Franco Lamanna Tomás Inciate, Felipe Arcos Pérez and José Iruleguy.
PROJECTED ALTERNATIVE XV
| # | PLAYER | CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| 1 | Juan Echeverría | American Raptors (US) | LH | 64 |
| 2 | Guillermo Pujadas | Champagnat / Peñarol | HK | 25 |
| 3 | Ignacio Peculo | Old Christians / Peñarol | TH | 11 |
| 4 | Ignacio Dotti | Los Cuervos / Peñarol | LO | 58 |
| 5 | Manuel Leindekar | Bayonne (FR) | LO | 25 |
| 6 | Lucas Bianchi | Los Cuervos / Peñarol | FL | 7 |
| 7 | Eric Dosantos | Lobos / Peñarol | FL | 14 |
| 8 | Manuel Ardao | Old Christians / Peñarol | N8 | 21 |
| 9 | Santiago Arata | Castres (FR) | SH | 45 |
| 10 | Felipe Etcheverry | Old Boys / Peñarol | FH | 18 |
| 11 | Nicolás Freitas | Vannes (FR) | WI | 48 |
| 12 | Andrés Vilaseca (capt.) | Vannes (FR) | CE | 72 |
| 13 | Felipe Arcos Pérez | Old Boys / Peñarol | CE | 8 |
| 14 | Mateo Viñals | Carrasco Polo / Peñarol | WI | 3 |
| 15 | José Iruleguy | Old Boys / Peñarol | FB | 2 |
The match order is not ideal, from an Uruguayan perspective; and for this reason, if Uruguay are to rotate players it will be against New Zealand. Thus, the projected first XV is Uruguay at full-strength and can be considered as the team to play against France, Italy and Namibia. Minor changes are possible depending on performance and injuries.
Rotation in the above line-up sees a different front-row and a new-look back-row. Manuel Ardao moves from flanker to N8 with Lucas Bianchi Eric Dosantos starting as the flankers. The second-row is unchaged; they are Uruguay’s tallest and most powerful unit to lock the scrum.
The back-line sees flair over stability with Felipe Etcheverry listed as the starting fly half. Nicolás Freitas moves to the wing with Felipe Arcos Pérez listed at outside center. Mateo Viñals and José Iruleguy are projected to join Freitas in the back-three.
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