Uruguay Change Nine for USA

Coming off a narrow away win over Chile, Los Teros Head Coach Esteban Meneses has made wholesale changes for the final round match against the USA. A total of eight changes have been made, three of them being to make way for professionals who have arrived for this one fixture.

Changes to the front row see German Kessler and Juan Echeverría replaced by Carlos Arboleya and Mario Sagario. Saguaro is one of three European-based professional players to have flown to Montevideo this week to face the Eagles.

In the second row Mathias Palomeque drops to the bench with Gonzalo Soto having been selected to partner the transformed Diego Magno in a new combination. The remaining change to the forwards sees Juan Diego Ormaechea elevated to the starting lineup ahead of Matías Beer.

With Agustín Ormaechea available, the Mont-de-Marsan scrum half comes into the team in place of Guillermo Lijtenstein who will be his deputy on Saturday. Ormaechea will join Manuel Blengio in the halves with Martín Secco, who started against Chile, missing out on selection.

Andrés Vilaseca moves in one place to inside center with Alberto Román dropping to the bench. Starting outside Vilaseca will be Pedro Deal. Out wide the England based Gastón Mieres has been named to play left wing. This sees Federico Favaro missing out on another start. He will cover from the bench.

Saturday’s test match will be played at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo. Kick-off is scheduled for 5:15pm local time.

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Carlos Arboleya 3 Mario Sagario 4 Gonzalo Soto 5 Diego Magno 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.) 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea 8 Alejandro Nieto 9 Agustín Ormaechea 10 Manuel Blengio 11 Gastón Mieres 12 Andrés Vilaseca 13 Pedro Deal 14 Leandro Leivas 15 Rodrigo Silva

16 German Kessler 17 Facundo Gattas 18 Juan Echeverría 19 Mathias Palomeque 20 Matías Beer 21 Alberto Román 22 Guillermo Lijtenstein 23 Federico Favaro