July Internationals 2025 – Uruguay vs Romania – ARN Guide

Seventh in the world Uruguay are set to play for the first time in 2025. Los Teros have home advantage against Romania in Montevideo. The clash is the Stejarii’s second of three matches in their South American tour. Romania arrived in Uruguay after taking-on Chile at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago. Before that, Romania successfully qualified for Rugby World Cup 2027. Los Teros are facing Romania and Argentina before beginning their qualifying matches for Australia 2027.

 

FORM GUIDE

Current World Ranking: 17 (67.06 points)
First appearance of 2025.

Current World Ranking: 21 (63.13 points)
2025-07-05 – Chile 40-16 Romania (Santiago, CL)
2025-03-16 – Portugal 7-21 Romania (Algés, PT)
2025-03-02 – Georgia 43-5 Romania  (Tbilisi, GE)
2025-02-15 – Romania 6-34 Portugal (Botoșani, RO)
2025-02-08 – Belgium 14-31 Romania (Mons, BE)
2025-01-31 – Romania 48-10 Germany (Bucharest, RO)

STARTING LINEUP CHANGES (from  vs )

	IN	OUT
1	Iulian Hartig	Alexandru Sarin
3	Thomas Crețu	Gheorghe Gajion
7	Nicolaas Immelman	Matthew Tweddle
8	Damian Strătilă	Nicolas Immelman
9	Vlăduț Bocăneț	Alin Conache
10	Ștefan Cojocariu	Tudor Boldor
14	Alexandru Bucur	Toni Maftei
15	Alexandru Harasim	Ovidiu Neagu

 

+ TEST DEBUTANTS

– Francisco Suárez

– Ștefan Cojocariu, Lukas Mitu, Toma Mîrzac, David Rafael Florea Jilăveanu

 

+  MOST CAPS

– M Sanguinetti (90), A Vilaseca (81), G Kessler (67), I Dotti (66), M Diana (47), F Gattas (42)

– A Savin (43), A Moțoc (35), F Tangimana (33), I Hartig (25), F Roșu (21), A Bucur (19)

+  LEAST CAPS

– JM Tafernaberry (1), I Álvarez (3), Í Amarillo (3), J González (3), J Suárez (5)

– A Mitrea (1), V Bocăneț (2), S Corrado-Ștețco (3), Y Horvat (4), T Boldor (6)

 

+  NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– G Pujadas (HK), J Myszka (HK), D Arbelo (TH), C Deus (FL), S Arata (SH), JM Alonso (CE), T Inciarte (CE), B Amaya (FB)

– M Iftimiciuc (LO), C Chirica (FL), A Mitu (N8), G Rupanu (SH), G Pop (FH), H Vaovasa (FH), T Gontineac (CE), J Tomane (CE)

 

NOTES

• The match opens Uruguay’s international competition for 2025. Uruguay’s most recent match was in November, 2024 against Romania in Bucharest.
• Rodolfo Ambrosio has opted against experimenting with new players.
• Andrés Vilaseca returns following two knee surgeries. He only played once for Peñarol in 2025.
• Vilaseca starts at inside center but will not skipper the side. Manuel Leindekar will do so from second-row.
• Los Teros 7’s players Juan Gonzalez and Ignacio Álvarez start.
• Mateo Sanguinetti edges closer to becoming the second Uruguayan to 100 caps. He will earn his 91st on Saturday. Diego Magno was the first Americas player to 100 caps and retired as the only Uruguayan.
• Francisco Suárez covers Sanguinetti and will make his debut for Los Teros.
• Lukas Mitu will debut for Romania. He is French and is not Romanian homegrown and qualifies as a JIFF (Joueur Issu de la Filière Formation / Player of French Formation). Ștefan Cojocariu, Toma Mîrzac and David Rafael Florea Jilăveanu also make their debuts for Romania.
• Antonio Mitrea earns his second cap a week after debuting against Chile.
• International competition between Uruguay and Romania began in 2008.
• Romania have 9 victories compare to Uruguay’s 4.
• Uruguay has a three match winning-streak against Romania.
• Los Teros are heavily made up of Peñarol players. Peñarol are the Super Rugby Americas 2025 Champions. Back-rowers Manuel Diana and Santiago Civetta were captains in the 2025 campaign.
• Nine of Uruguay’s players are present or past Major League Rugby (MLR) players. The MLR 2025 players are Ignacio Péculo (Chicago Hounds), Facundo Gattas (Old Glory DC), Reinaldo Piussi (Miami Sharks), Ignacio Dotti (Old Glory DC), Manuel Ardao (Miami Sharks).
• The past MLR Uruguayans in the 23 to face Romania are: Mateo Sanguinetti (Houston SaberCats), Manuel Diana (Toronto Arrows), Felipe Etcheverry (Miami Sharks), Andrés Vilaseca (Austin Gilgronis).
• Vilaseca formerly played Pro D2 in France. Germán Kessler, and Manuel Leindekar are French-based now.
• Uruguay’s star scrum-half, Santiago Arata is on vacations. He played for the Barbarians against the Springboks after his long season for Castres.
• Wales’ Craig Evans will officiate the match in English.

PREDICTION

Los Teros’ first match of the year is positioned later than Argentina, Brazil’s and Chile’s. It enabled critical rest time for Rodolfo Ambrosio’s players. They have been able to prepare well fo the challenge of the Stejarii. Recent contests see Uruguay with an edge and this is likely to continue on Saturday. Romania were comprehensively outperformed by Chile who fielded a Selknam-heavy side. Peñarol enjoyed notable success over Selknam this year. Uruguay are favorites to win in Montevideo.

 

LINE-UPS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Ignacio Péculo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar (capt.), 6 Santiago Civetta, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Ignacio Álvarez, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Bautista Basso, 15 Juan González

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Francisco Suárez, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Manuel Ardao, 21 Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, 22 Ícaro Amarillo, 23 Joaquín Suárez

 

ROMANIA
1 Iulian Hartig, 2 Tudor Butnariu, 3 Thomas Crețu, 4 Adrian Moțoc, 5 Andrei Mahu, 6 Cristi Boboc (capt.), 7 Nicolaas Immelman, 8 Damian Strătilă, 9 Vlăduț Bocăneț, 10 Ștefan Cojocariu, 11 Taliauli Sikuea, 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 13 Antonio Mitrea, 14 Alexandru Bucur, 15 Alexandru Harasim

Replacements: 16. Lukas Mitu, 17 Alexandru Savin, 18 Gheorghe Gajion, 19 Yanis Horvat, 20 Florian Roșu, 21 Toma Mîrzac, 22 Tudor Boldor, 23 David Rafael Florea Jilăveanu

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, July 12
Kickoff: 3pm (UY); 9pm (RO)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo(UY)
Broadcasts: ESPN, Disney +
Weather Forecast: Mostly Cloudy, 13°C, Wind 10 km/h

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Federico Vedovelli (IT) and Cauã Ricardo (BR)
TMO: Marcelo Pilaro (AR)

 

HISTORY  vs (2008-2024)

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 (2008-2024)

ROMANIA Wins 9
URUGUAY Wins 4
DRAW 1