Scotland will be Uruguay’s third opponent of 2024. Los Teros are finishing a previously unimaginable home series against giants France, Argentina and Scotland.
Uruguay had their moments in losing 43-28 against a young French side but were blown away by Argentina. The 79-5 defeat was Uruguay's largest ever, in 40 test matches, against Los Pumas.
Los Teros were competitive in three out of four matches at Rugby World Cup 2023. The exception was against New Zealand. Uruguay’s performance against Argentina this past Saturday was worse than against the All Blacks in Lyon as Uruguay conceded more points.
The July 2024 Internationals are Uruguay’s first matches since Rugby World Cup 2023. Los Teros displayed improvement at the tournament in France.
Uruguay’s results in Rugby World Cup Qualifiers from 2015-2023 demonstrate progress. The South Americans qualified via repechage against Russia in 2015, won the Americas 2 spot for 2019 ahead of Canada and qualified as Americas 1 for 2023 by beating the USA.
Uruguay added the African scalp of Namibia at Rugby World Cup 2023. Prior Teros World Cup wins were against Spain in 1999, Georgia in 2003 and Fiji in 2019. Scotland is forever connected to Uruguay in rugby as the 1999 win over Spain took place in Galashiels.
Match venue
Scotland’s final match of the July tour of the Americas will take place in Montevideo at Uruguayan Rugby headquarters.
The Estadio Charrúa seats 14,000 people. It is located near the Montevideo International Airport in the Carrasco neighbourhood.
Progression key ahead of 2027 Rugby World Cup
The 2019-2023 World Cup cycle saw Uruguay reaching the peak of Americas qualification. Uruguay won the South American region, which did not include Argentina, and went on to defeat the USA on aggregate to claim the Americas 1 spot for the first time.
This caused an Americas shake-up with Chile eliminating Canada and the USA subsequently losing, on aggregate, to Chile. Changes to the qualifying structure for Australia 2027 are forthcoming.
Esteban Meneses coached Uruguay from 2016-2023. His replacement is also Argentine. Rodolfo Ambrosio took charge in April. Ambrosio previously coached Brazil during their best ever period. Under Ambrosio, Brazil notched up wins against Belgium, Canada, Portugal and the USA.
Ambrosio played for Italy. He debuted against New Zealand in the first ever Rugby World Cup match in 1987. His final cap was against the Soviet Union in 1989. His appointment had the firm backing of Daniel Hourcade.
The former Pumas Head Coach is one of the most influential figures behind the scenes for World Rugby in South America.
The Ambrosio era began with the aforementioned 42-28 loss to France. It was a satisfactory start but has quickly been forgotten after the record defeat to Argentina last Saturday.
Ambrosio and Uruguay are looking at lifting their game for Rugby World Cup 2027. The home match against Scotland is an opportunity to analyze what Uruguay can do to lift their game between now and October 2027.
Planning for the Rugby World Cup 2027 cycle has begun. Uruguay will target qualifying as the winner of the South American regional qualifiers. Uruguay’s High Performance program has a five year head-start compared to Chile's.
Professional rugby in Uruguay
Professional rugby in Uruguay began on the field in 2020 though it can be dated to 2015. Having qualified for the 2015 World Cup, the staff and players looked at what was in front of them: England in Manchester, Wales in Cardiff and also facing Australia and Fiji.
At the time 95% of the players on the roster were amateurs. They responded with a pro-active attitude of training full-time ahead of the tournament.
Los Teros were winless at Rugby World Cup 2015; however, Uruguay was not blown away as had been speculated. Los Teros lost 60-3 against England in 2015 compared to 111-13 in 2003.
Results against Wales and Australia in 2015 and 2019 also offered encouragement. Wales defeated Uruguay 54-9 in 2015 and 35-13 in 2019. Australia won 65-3 in 2015 and 45-10 in 2019. Uruguayan improvement produced a shock upset with Los Teros improving from a 47-15 loss to Fiji in 2015 to beat them 30-27 in 2019.
The 2019 Uruguayan roster had more time to prepare and had exposure to improved resources. The Estadio Charrúa had a High Performance Centre installed. This proved to be critical firstly in overcoming Canada in the qualifiers and secondly in upsetting Fiji at the World Cup.
Uruguay officially went professional in 2020. The Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR - now Super Rugby Americas) began with Peñarol as Uruguay’s team. The 2024 edition of the league featured seven teams. Peñarol are two-time champions with titles in 2022 and 2023.
Super Rugby Americas is very likely to expand. Tucumán in Northern Argentina has been identified as plausible for 2025 and Santa Fé is another possibility. Chile is interested in a second team at some point while Uruguay originally planned to have two teams. Peñarol and fellow soccer club Nacional were initially intended for the inaugural campaign. It is in Uruguayan interests to pursue a second team.
Uruguay squad and debutants
Head Coach Rodolfo Ambrosio named a 36-man roster for the July Internationals. The most capped player is Diego Magno with 106 caps. He is the first Americas player to reach 100 caps. Loose head prop Mateo Sanguinetti is second with 86 caps.
Ambrosio’s first roster includes five uncapped players. Hooker Joaquín Myszka, second-rower Agustín Morales, flanker Manuel Rosmarino, and backs Joaquín Suárez and Juan Bautista Hontou. Suárez and Hontou debuted as replacements against Argentina.
Players based overseas
The amount of Uruguayans playing abroad is increasing. Eight members of the July roster play in the USA and five play in France. Diego Magno plays Super Rugby Americas for the Raptors while seven play Major League Rugby (MLR). The MLR players are front-rowers Ignacio Péculo, Reinaldo Piussi and Guillermo Pujadas, lock Ignacio Dotti, flanker Manuel Ardao, centre Tomás Inciarte and fly-half Felipe Etcheverry.
The five French-based players are spread across different divisions. Scrum-half Santiago Arata plays for Castres in the Top 14.
Lock Manuel Leindekar is moving from Bayonne to the relegated Oyonnax. Center Andrés Vilaseca helped Vannes win promotion to the Top 14. He is now a former Vannes player as is winger Nicolás Freitas. Front-rowers Diego Arbelo and Germán Kessler have recently signed for Rouen.
Uruguay's ones to watch
Uruguay's players of note are arguably Santiago Arata, Baltazar Amaya, Manuel Leindekar, Manuel Ardao, and Andrés Vilaseca. Amaya set a new World Cup try-scoring record for Los Teros last year. He is on the Uruguayan Rugby Olympic team and will thus not face Scotland.
Arata scored in the World Cup wins over Fiji and Namibia. He reached 50 caps against France this month but was forced off early with a sprained ankle. He is irreplaceable for Uruguay and will be raring to go against Scotland. He is one of few who can say he previously outplayed Antoine Dupont in a Top 14 match.
Leindekar is a giant at 2.03m tall. 2015 captain Santiago Vilaseca played second-row despite being 1.87m tall. Tall-timber lacked in both 2015 and 2019. Leindekar is tall and has the skill-set in the set-piece, on defense and is very busy in the maul. He and lock partner Felipe Aliaga will be looking to bounce back from Saturday.
Andrés Vilaseca is the younger brother of Santiago Vilaseca. Andrés Vilaseca plays inside centre and is a hard-running midfielder. He leads by example, playing hard but composed.
Manuel Ardao is master of the jackal. He won four turnovers against Italy at the World Cup. He is very fast for a flanker; a fact which sees him to also able to be on hand to score tries on attack.
Uruguay missing players
Ambrosio’s roster contains Felipe Etcheverry as the only specialist fly half. The country’ record point scorer, Felipe Berchesi, is now focusing on his architecture career while Juan Andrés Zuccarino is injured.
Berchesi was often seen outside Agustín Ormaechea, a scrum-half with 60 caps and three World Cup campaigns to his name. Ambrosia decided to go for youth instead of selecting Ormaechea.
Uruguay missed two MLR players this past weekend. While Los Teros were facing Argentina, Ignacio Dotti (63 caps) and Facundo Gattas (42 caps) took to the field for Old Glory DC against the New England Free Jacks. The Free Jacks were 33-29 winners.
Roster members Baltazar Amaya, Felipe Arcos Pérez, Bautista Basso, Ignacio Facciolo, and Mateo Viñals were called-up to the Uruguayan Olympic team. Amaya, Arcos Pérez, Basso and Viñals all started against France in Uruguay’s opening July test match.
Previous results against Scotland
Scotland have never played a Test match in Uruguay before. The teams have only met once previously at the Senior Men’s level.
The match took place at Murrayfield during the pool stage of the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Scotland won 43-12 with Gregor Townsend scoring one of six Scottish tries.
- October 08, 1999 - Scotland 43-12 Uruguay (Edinburgh)
Uruguay Squad
Props
Diego Arbelo (Rouen, FR; 23 caps)
Mathias Franco (Peñarol; 4 caps)
Ignacio Péculo (Chicago Hounds, US; 18 caps)
Mateo Perillo (Peñarol; 2 caps)
Reinaldo Piussi (Miami Sharks, US; 8 caps)
Mateo Sanguinetti (Peñarol; 86 caps)
Hookers
Germán Kessler (Rouen, FR; 67 caps)
Joaquín Myszka (Peñarol; uncapped)
Guillermo Pujadas (Chicago Hounds, US; 33 caps)
Locks
Felipe Aliaga (Peñarol; 10 caps)
Ignacio Dotti (Old Glory DC, US; 63 caps)
Manuel Leindekar (Oyonnax, FR; 34 caps)
Diego Magno (American Raptors, US; 106 caps)
Agustín Morales (Peñarol; uncapped)
Back-row
Manuel Ardao (Miami Sharks, US; 29 caps)
Lucas Bianchi (Peñarol; 14 caps)
Santiago Civetta (Peñarol; 32 caps)
Manuel Rosmarino (Peñarol; uncapped)
Carlos Deus (Peñarol; 8 caps)
Manuel Diana (Peñarol; 43 caps)
Scrum-half
Santiago Álvarez (Peñarol; 8 caps)
Santiago Arata (Castres, FR; 50 caps)
Fly-half
Felipe Etcheverry (Miami Sharks, US; 26 caps)
Centre
Juan Manuel Alonso (Peñarol; 11 caps)
Joaquín Suárez (Peñarol; 1 cap)
Andrés Vilaseca (Vannes, FR; 81 caps)
Felipe Arcos Pérez (Peñarol; 11 caps)*
Tomás Inciarte (Miami Sharks, US; 37 caps)
Wingers
Bautista Basso (Los Teros 7’s; 8 caps)*
Ignacio Facciolo (Peñarol; 1 cap)*
Nicolás Freitas (unattached; 55 caps)
Gastón Mieres (Peñarol; 84 caps)
Mateo Viñals (Peñarol; 5 caps)*
Fullbacks
Ignacio Álvarez (Peñarol; 3 caps)
Baltazar Amaya (Los Teros 7’s; 12 caps)*
Juan Bautista Hontou (Peñarol; 1 cap)
* Released due to Paris 2024 Olympics
Read the rules here