Pool A heats up with a midweek clash in Nice. In a battle of the Old World vs the New World Italy face Uruguay. This is true in more ways than one; Italy is a rock solid member of Rugby’s traditional elite – the Old Boys Club. Uruguay is a country developing at a remarkably rapid rate.
The match is the second of four pool fixtures for both Italy and Uruguay. In their opening match, the Italians completed a bonus point 52-08 win over Namibia. Uruguay gave hosts France a challenge in their first outing. The 27-12 loss saw France missing out on a bonus point. This is unheard of for a fixture of this nature at World Cups.
Italy have had extra time to get ready than have Uruguay. Italy’s match against Namibia was on day two of the tournament while Uruguay’s debut was on day seven. The impossibility of evenly distributing matches based on pools containing five teams will only go away with changes. A 24-team Rugby World Cup is overdue and may yet be implemented for Australia 2027.
Italy’s 23 to take-on Uruguay features sixteen who play in Italy and seven who play abroad. The Italian-based players are from from Zebre Parma and twelve from Benetton Treviso. They are joined by four who play in France, two in England and one in Australia.
Captain Michele Lamaro plays for Benetton as does Argentine Juan Ignacio Brex who will start at outside center against Los Teros. Brex will have a new mid-field partner as fly half Paolo Garbisi moves to the inside center position.
The shift of Garbisi sees Tommaso Allan moving from fullback to fly half and Ange Capuozzo transferring from the wing to his usual position of fullback. This means Italy will have a play-making duo at fly half and inside center and adding finishing abilities in the back-three.
The younger of the Garbisi brothers, Alessandro Garbisi starts at scrum-half while the wingers will be Lorenzo Pani and Australian Montana Ioane.
In the forwards Kieran Crowley has opted for the trio of Lorenzo Cannone, captain Lamaro and Sebastian Negri in the back-row. Negri will earn his 50th cap following his journey from Zimbabwe to South Africa to Italy.
The second-row sees Niccolò Cannone back to start. He will lock the scrum alongside the outstanding Federico Ruzza. This marks history for Italy as both Niccolò Cannone and Lorenzo Cannone start for Italy as dot he Garbisi’s in the backs. Never before have two sets of brothers started for the Azzurri in a Rugby World Cup match.
The front-row will consist of Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, and Marco Riccioni. They ill have solid replacement cover with in the form of Luca Bigi, Federico Zani, and Pietro Ceccarelli.
Esteban Meneses has made two starting changes to Los Teros. They come at hooker and on the right wing with Germán Kessler and Gastón Mieres replacing Guillermo Pujadas and Bautista Basso respectively.
Kessler and Mieres are among Uruguay’s most experienced players on the roster. Both are playing in their third Rugby World Cups. Kessler will earn his 63rd cap and Mieres his 83rd. Mieres is, indeed, the most capped Tero at the World Cup. Captain Andrés Vilaseca will earn his 77th cap while loose head prop Mateo Sanguinetti will earn his 82nd.
Sanguinetti and Kessler join Ignacio Péculo in the front-row. Péculo is among the most improved Tier 2 tight heads in recent years. Felipe Aliaga and Manuel Leindekar again lock the scrum with Manuel Ardao, Santiago Civetta, and Manuel Diana forming an unchanged back-row.
The back-line sees Santiago Arata and Felipe Etcheverry holding down the starting halves positions. Veteran Agustín Ormaechea and Felipe Berchesi are to again be replacements. Ormaechea plays his rugby in Nice in France’s 3rd division. Kessler, Leindekar, Arata, Berchesi, Nicolás Freitas, and Vilaseca also play in France.
Vilaseca and Freitas were regulars together for Vannes in the centers this past season. Freitas played on the wing against France and will also do so against Italy. Tomás Inciarte again joins Vilaseca in the mid-field while Freitas, Mieres and Baltazar Amaya start in the back-three.
Meneses went for six forwards and two backs as his replacements against France. He has gone for one fewer forward and an additional back against the Azzurri. Facundo Gattas covered hooker against France but covers loose head prop against Italy. Diego Arbelo comes in as the replacement tight-head while Bautista Basso covers center and wing.
Arata is the French-based player that most people know about. However, Manuel Leindekar is also a regular in the Top 14. They excel at scrum-half and second-row respectively; they give Uruguay excellent distribution, defense and lineout work.
There are other Uruguayans to look out for. Jackal expert Manuel Ardao and play-maker Felipe Etcheverry are two cases in point. Both will play MLR for the Miami Sharks next season. This will see further opportunities for Uruguayan talent at Peñarol.
Uruguay’s 23 are all professional players. This was not so at Rugby World Cups 1999, 2003, 2015 or 2019. Uruguay’s High Performance Center, Super Rugby Americas (formerly Súper Liga Americana de Rugby – SLAR), Professional clubs abroad, and Rugby 7’s have resulted in fitter and stronger players as well as lifted the level of the team.
Twelve players – Diego Arbelo, Mateo Sanguinetti, Ignacio Péculo, Guillermo Pujadas, Felipe Aliaga, Ignacio Dotti, Manuel Ardao, Manuel Diana, Carlos Deus, Felipe Etcheverry, Tomás Inciarte, and Gastón Mieres played for Peñarol in Super Rugby Americas 2023.
The match will be the fifth overall between Italy and Uruguay and the first between the countries at a Rugby World Cup. Italy played host to Uruguay in test matches in 1999 and 2021 while Los Teros were the home side against Italy in matches in 2001 and 2007.
TEAMS
ITALY
1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Sebastián Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro (capt.), 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 10 Tommaso Allan, 11 Montana Ioane, 12 Paolo Garbisi, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 14 Lorenzo Pani, 15 Ange Capuozzo
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Giovanni Pettinelli, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Paolo Odogwu
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 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 Gastón Mieres, 15 Baltazar Amaya
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Agustín Ormaechea, 22 Felipe Berchesi, 23 Bautista Basso
RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 – Italy vs Uruguay
Date: Wednesday, September 20
Kick-Off: 5:45pm (FR); 12:45pm (UY)
Venue: Stade de Nice, Nice (FR)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Jordan Way (Australia); Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO: Tom Foley (England)
vs
HISTORIC RESULTS
2021-11-20 – Italy 17, Uruguay 10 (Parma, IT)
2007-06-02 – Uruguay 05, Italy 29 (Montevideo, UY)
2001-07-07 – Uruguay 03, Italy 14 (Montevideo, UY)
1999-08-22 – Italy 49, Uruguay 17 (L’Aquilla, IT)
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