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The international rivalry between Brazil, and Uruguay continues on Saturday. The neighboring countries have competed in great contests in recent years but on Saturday their match-up will take-on a new look with Uruguay’s next of XV, the Uruguay XV facing Brazil’s official test side.
Brazilian Head Coach Rodolfo Ambrosio has made two changes from the side which hammered Paraguay last weekend. Coming off a record 66-10 win in Asunción the only alterations see a start for Pedro Bengalo in place of Wilton Rebolo at tight head prop; and Ariel Rodrigues replacing Stefano Giantorno on the right wing.
The Uruguay XV were also victorious last weekend. Their 39-32 win over Chile saw impressive tries scored and the unearthing of a center pairing of great future potential.
Of the side that faced Los Cóndores 10 names are again in the starting XV. The five changes begin at loose head with Santiago Bonasso replacing Facundo Gattas. Elsewhere in the forwards Felipe Aliaga takes-over from Gonzalo Soto Mera; and Santiago Civetta starts at flanker in place of Leandro Segredo.
In the backs there are two changes. They come on the left wing and at fullback with Juan Pablo Costabile, and José Iruleguy named to start in place of Nicolás Freitas, and Manuel Blengio respectively.
The match is to have some notable head-to-head clashes. Among them is the wing match-up between Daniel Silva, and Federico Favaro. Both players were central to their respective wins last weekend. At the back of the scrum a feature match-up sees André Arruda playing opposite Manuel Diana.
The annual matches in the Americas Rugby Championship, and the former South American Championship have seen Uruguay unbeaten by Brazil. The prospects of this changing in São Paulo on Saturday are very real though such a win would still be an upset. The Uruguay XV are favorites to win by 10 points.
The match will be broadcast live in Brazil on Bandsports.
TEAMS
BRAZIL
1 Lucas Abud, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Pedro Bengalo, 4 Luiz Viera, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Matheus Souza, 7 Cleber Días, 8 André Arruda, 9 Laurent Bourdat, 10 Lucas Tranquez, 11 Daniel Silva, 12 de Wet van Niekerk, 13 Robert Tonorio, 14 Ariel Rodrigues, 15 Daniel Sancery (capt.)
Replacements: 16 João Talamini, 17 Wilton Rebolo, 18 Matheus Rocha, 19 Lucas Piero Moraes, 20 Michael Oliveira, 21 Leandro Castiglioni, 22 Lucas Duque, 23 Stefano Giantorno
URUGUAY XV
1 Facundo Gattas, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Pedro Rombys, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 JuanJuan Garese, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Tomás Iniciarte, 10 Matías Davanzo, 11 Juan Pablo Costabile, 12 Agustín Della Corte, 13 Alfonso Costa, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 José Iruleguy
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Joaquín Jaunsolo, 18 Santiago Bonasso, 19 Maxime Sonneveld, 20 Gonzalo Soto Mera, 21 Tomás Ubilla, 22 Manuel Blengio, 23 Felipe Etcheverry
Date: Saturday, May 18
Kick-Off: 4pm (Brasilia)
Venue: Estadio José Liberatti, São Paulo
Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Estebán Filipanics (Argentina), Victor Hugo Barbosa (Brazil)
