World Rugby Nations Cup – Uruguay vs Romania – ARN Guide

Uruguay play host to Romania in a round two fixture of the 2026 World Rugby Nations Cup. The contest sees two teams who were beaten in one round clashing at the home of the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay (URU) in Montevideo.

The rivalry has grown exponentially to be one of the most common Tier 2 fixtures between teams from different or mixed regions. So much so, that so far in the 2020s, Uruguay vs Romania is the most common intercontinental test match for both Los Teros and Stejarii.

Saturday’s World Rugby Nations Cup match between the teams in Montevideo will be the seventh meeting this decade. This is notably high and none of the matches have been at Rugby World Cups nor in Rugby World Cup Qualifying.

Historically, fixtures like Romania vs Canada or Uruguay vs USA / Canada happened more often. However, looking strictly at this current decade, those rivalries have slowed down. Romania have only played Canada twice so far this decade (2024 and 2025). Their 7 games against Uruguay make it by far their most frequent opponent outside of Europe

Uruguay’s historic regional qualifiers against the USA and Canada have been reduced due to changes in Rugby World Cup qualification pathways, leaving their 7 matches against Romania as their highest cross-continental tally compared to having faced Canada (2), USA (2), Portugal (1), Spain (1) thus far in the 2020s.

The change in Uruguay’s opposition outside of South America has taken place alongside the move to High Performance investments at the Estadio Charrúa and professionalism. This has seen Uruguay turn-around results against Romania.

URUGUAY – WORLD RANKING 16 (68.46)

ROMANIA – WORLD RANKING 22 (60.08)

	IN	OUT
14	Francisco González Capdevila	Juan González
15	Juan González	Francisco González Capdevila
	IN	OUT
1	Iulian Hartig	Alexandru Savin
3	Cosmin Manole	Jean-Pierre Smith
4	Logan Weidner	Nicolaas Immenman
6	Nicolaas Immelman	Kemal Altinok
9	Alin Conache	Gabriel Rupanu
10	Hinckley Vaovasa	Daniel Plai
13	Nicolas Onuțu	Dylan Schwartz
14	Tevita Manumua	Nicolas Onuțu

– Iacopo Bianchi.

MOST CAPS

– M Sanguinetti (98), I Dotti (73), M Diana (54), M Ardao (39), L Bianchi (27), F Aliaga (23), JM Alonso (20); F Arcos Pérez (20)

– A Savin (43), M Simionescu (41), G Rupanu (32), D Plai (31), N Onuțu (29), I Hartig (25), J Tomane (22).

LEAST CAPS

– G Kigel (1), F Landauer (1), L Porcelli (1), I Rodríguez Bosch (1), A Ten Hoever (1), A Vidal (1), J Cotarmanac’h (3), F González Capdevila (3), M Rosmarino (3), J Myszka (7), M Perillo (9), J Suárez (10)

– I Bianchi (0), JP Smith (1), K Murray (1), L Weidner (3), I Tique (1), M Graure (6)

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– F Suárez (LH), G Kessler (HK), G Pujadas (HK), D Arbelo (TH), I Péculo (TH), M Leindekar (LO), S Civetta (FL), C Deus (FL), S Álvarez (SH), S Arata (SH), F Etcheverry (FH), A Vilaseca (CE), B Basso (WI), B Amaya (FB)

– Thomas Crețu (TH), Gheorghe Gajion (TH) Marius Iftimiciuc (LO), Adrian Motoc (LO), Taylor Gontineac (CE), A Septar (CE), Toni Maftei (WI).

• Uruguay is on a five match winning-streak against Romania.
• The teams met in Montevideo last July with Uruguay winning by a record margin.
• They met again in Bucharest in November with Los Teros winning 31-12.
• Rodolfo Ambrosio has named the same XV to start who did so against Georgia. The only difference is Francisco González Capdevilia and Juan González switch positions.
• Romania’s changes include a start for Canadian Logan Weidner in the second-row.
• Uruguayan players Germán Kigel, Francisco Landauer, Lucas Porcelli, Ignacio Rodríguez Bosch, Arturo Ten Hoever, and Alfonso Vidal all debuted against Georgia. Ten Hoever is from France.
• Jean–Pierre Smith and Keanan Murray debuted for Romania against Chile. Both are from South Africa.
•  Iacopo Bianchi will earn his test debut for Romania.
• Andrei Mahu has 12 caps specifically for Romania, but holds 36 total international caps when including his 24 appearances for Moldova.
• Veteran Teros prop, Mateo Sanguinetti will earn his 99th cap.
• Uruguay’s 23 features 20 players born in Uruguay, 1 in Argentina and 2 in France. Francisco González Capdevilia is from Argentina while Jean Cotarmanac’h and Arturo Ten Hoever are from France. All three men qualify for Uruguay via a parent.
• 12 of Romania’s 23 players were born in Romania. They are Iulian Hartig, Ștefan Marko Buruiană, Cosmin Manole, Cristi Boboc, Adrian Mitu, Alin Conache, Marius Simionescu, Tudor Butnariu, Alexandru Savin, Vlad Neculau, Gabriel Rupanu and Mihai Graure.
• Romania’s 11 other players are from Australia, Canada, Fiji, France, Italy, New Zealand, Moldova, South Africa and Tonga.

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Joaquín Myszka, 3 Reinaldo Piussi, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Felipe Aliaga (capt.), 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Joaquin Suárez, 10 Jean Cotarmanac’h, 11 Ignacio Álvarez Akiki, 12 Juan Manuel Alonso, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Francisco González Capdevilia, 15 Juan González

Replacements: 16 Germán Kigel, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Lucas Porcelli, 19 Manuel Rosmarino, 20 Arturo Ten Hoever, 21 Ignacio Rodriguez Bosch, 22 Francisco Landauer, 23 Alfonso Vidal

ROMANIA
1 Iulian Hartig, 2 Ștefan Marko Buruiană, 3 Cosmin Manole, 4 Logan Weidner, 5 Andrei Mahu, 6 Nicolaas Immelman 7 Cristi Boboc (capt.), 8 Adrian Mitu, 9 Alin Conache, 10 Hinckley Vaovasa, 11 Iliesa Tiqe, 12 Jason Tomane, 13 Nicolas Onuțu, 14 Tevita Manumua, 15 Marius Simionescu

Replacements: 16 Tudor Butnariu, 17 Alexandru Savin 18 Jean-Pierre Smith, 19 Vlad Neculau, 20 Keanan Murray, 21 Iacopo Bianchi, 22 Gabriel Rupanu, 23 Mihai Graure

Ambrosio’s decision to retain the same line-up signifies a team following a game-plan. Indeed, Los Teros rely on a game plan built around elite breakdown competition, tactical kicking, and an expansive backline running game. They were able to compete against Georgia in many areas with structural tactical elements designed to disrupt their higher-ranked opponent. The Stejarii rely on a traditional, heavyweight forward-based game plan centered around set-piece dominance, brutal scrummaging, and a punishing driving maul. Cold conditions await the teams at the Estadio Charrúa. Uruguay are favorites to win in Montevideo.

Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Date: Saturday, July 11
Kick-Off: 2:00pm (Uruguay); 8:00pm (Romania)
Weather: Light Rain Showers; 12°C (54°F) Wind SE 4 mph
Broadcast: Disney + (Uruguay); Rugby Pass

Referee: Jordan Way (Australia)
Assistants: Angus Mabey (New Zealand); Cauã Ricardo Santos (Brazil)
TMO: Dan Jones (England)

HISTORY  vs (2008-2026)

2025-11-22 – Romania 21-31 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2025-07-12 – Uruguay 70-08 Romania (Montevideo, UY)
2024-11-23 – Romania 21-23 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2022-11-13 – Romania 16-21 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2022-07-17 – Uruguay 26-20 Romania (Montevideo, UY)
2022-07-17 – Uruguay 22-30 Romania (Montevideo, UY)
2021-11-07 –  Romania 29-14 Uruguay (Verona, IT)
2018-11-24 – Romania 20-27 Uruguay (Baia Mare, RO)
2016-11-06 – Romania 36-10 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2016-06-13 – Romania 40-0 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2014-06-14 – Romania 34-16 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2012-06-08 – Romania 29-9 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2010-11-27 – Romania 39-12 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2010-11-13 – Uruguay 21-21 Romania (Montevideo, UY)
2009-06-12 – Romania 17-11 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
2008-06-11 – Romania 10-6 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)

HEAD TO HEAD  vs (2008-2026)

Wins 9
Wins 6
DRAW 1