World Rugby Nations Cup 2026 – Uruguay vs Georgia – ARN Guide

The first-ever World Rugby Nations Cup begins in Montevideo on Saturday. Uruguay play host to Georgia in the first test match between Los Teros and the Lelos in four years. The match is officially the world’s 15th ranked (71.94 points) Uruguay playing at home against the 13th ranked (points 69.19) Georgia.

Georgia came close to securing a more favorable draw for Rugby World Cup 2027. Wales climbed back to benefit which had consequences for the overall make-up of the pools. Georgia will be up against Italy, Romania and South Africa in Pool B while Uruguay face Ireland, Portugal and Scotland in Pool D. Both are highly demanding and comparatively difficult in terms of the overall pools.

On the one hand, World Rankings were used to determine Bands for the Rugby World Cup draw. On the other hand, rankings were not used for distributing participation in the Nations Championship. The primary reasons behind who is in and who is not involves commercial agreements, administrative control, and the tournament structure itself. Neither Georgia nor Uruguay will have Tier 1 matches in 2026 as a result.

Saturday’s contest in Montevideo will be historic; never before have Uruguay had home advantage in a test match against Georgia. The teams have previously played each other on six occasions but have never done so in Uruguay. The rivalry began in Sydney, Australia during Rugby World Cup 2003. The most recent meeting was in Tbilisi in November 2022.

 

FORM GUIDE

URUGUAY – WORLD RANKING 15 (69.19)
Yet to play in 2026.

GEORGIA – WORLD RANKING 13 (71.94)

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location
Feb 1, 2026	Germany	48-10	Win	Tbilisi, Georgia
Feb 8, 2026	Netherlands	61-12	Win	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Feb 15, 2026	Spain	42-30	Win	Tbilisi, Georgia
Mar 8, 2026	Romania (Semi-Final)	53-30	Win	Tbilisi, Georgia
Mar 15, 2026	Portugal (Final)	17-19	Loss	Madrid, Spain

 

LINE-UP CHANGES

N/A – Los Teros will be playing their first match of the year.

	IN	OUT
2	Nikoloz Sutidze	Vano Karkadze
3	Aleksandre Kuntelia	Giorgi Melikidze
5	Kote Mikautadze	Lado Chachanidze
6	Beka Shvangiradze	Ilia Spanderashvili
7	Luka Ivanishvili	Beka Saginadz
10	Luka Matkava	Tedo Abzhandadze
11	Roma Makhatadze	Davit Niniashvili
13	Davit Niniashvili	Giorgi Shvelidze
14	Giorgi Shvelidze	Akaki Tabutsadze

 

MILESTONES

– Debuts: G Kigel, F Landauer, L Porcelli, I Rodríguez Bosch, A Ten Hoever, A Vidal.

– Debuts Roma Makhatadze and Bachuki Chumbadze; 50th Cap: Tornike Jalagonia

 

MOST CAPS

– M Sanguinetti (96); I Dotti (72); M Diana (53); M Ardao (38); L Bianchi (26), F Aliaga (22), JM Alonso (19); F Arcos Pérez (19)

– V Lobzhanidze (104), K Mikautadze (85), G Kveseladze (71), A Tabutsadze (58), T Jalagonia (44), D Niniashvili (44), L Matkava (37)

 

LEAST CAPS

– J Cotarmanac’h (2), F González Capdevila (2), M Rosmarino (2); J Myszka (6), M Perillo (8), J Suárez (9)

– R Makhatadze (0), B Chumbadze (0), L Petriashvili (2), L Tsirekidze (3), N Sutidze (5), B Shvangiradze (6), and A Kuntelia (7)

 

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)

– G Melikidze (TH), G Kerdikoshvili (LO), B Gorgadze (No. 8)

 

NOTES

• The match officially kick-off the era of the World Rugby Nations Cup.
• Los Teros will play their first rugby test match of 2026. The line-up comes with numerous changes from the most recent match which was against Romania in November. The players who retained their starting spots from the 2025 match in Bucharest are Reinaldo Piussi, Felipe Aliaga, Manuel Ardao, Manuel Diana, Juan Manuel Alonso, and Francisco González Capdevila.
• Joaquín Suárez starts at scrum-half against Georgia while he played center against Romania.
• The match sees Uruguay having home advantage against Georgia for the first time.
• Jean Cotarmanac’h earns his first test start for Uruguay.
• Regular captain Manuel Leindekar is not on the roster due to a deal made with his club in France. The agreement will give Uruguay maximum time with the player in the World Cup year. Star scrum-half, Santiago Arata is missing on similar grounds.
• Georgia arrived in Uruguay with Pierre-Henri Broncan as the recently appointed new head coach.
• Lelos Veteran Kote Mikautadze, who has not played for the national team since the 2023 World Cup, starts for Georgia.
• Roma Makhatadze makes his test debut for Georgia on the wing and Bachuki Chumbadze will debut as a replacement prop.
• Star fullback Davit Niniashvili moved to outside center for Georgia. He has been named captain.

 

PREDICTION

Los Teros and the Lelos have both stunned higher ranked teams but are facing-off in the Nations Cup rather than having the opportunity of facing Tier 1 opponents. This frustration will be left to the side as Georiga looks to weaponized their scrum and the power of their pack. In contrast, Uruguay has pieced-together wins with smart use of the backs including with the use of lean, speedy forwards. The Estadio Charrúa can be a challenge place for goal-kickers when the wind picks up. Georgia are favorites to win in Montevideo.

 

LINE-UPS

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 Joaquín Suárez, 10 Jean Cotarmanac’h, 11 Ignacio Álvarez Akiki, 12 Juan Manuel Alonso, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Juan González, 15 Francisco González Capdevila

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

GEORGIA
1 Giorgi Akhaladze, 2 Nikoloz Sutidze, 3 Aleksandre Kuntelia, 4 Mikheil Babunashvili, 5 Kote Mikautadze, 6 Beka Shvangiradze, 7 Luka Ivanishvili, 8 Tornike Jalagonia, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 10 Luka Matkava, 11 Roma Makhatadze, 12 Giorgi Kveseladze, 13 Davit Niniashvili (capt.), 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 15 Luka Tsirekidze

Replacements: 16 Luka Petriashvili, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Bachuki Chumbadze, 19 Lado Chachanidze, 20 Giorgi Javakhia, 21 Ilia Spanderashvili, 22 Mikheil Alania, 23 Tornike Kakhoidze

 

MATCH INFORMATION

Date: Saturday, July 04
Kick-Off: 2pm (Uruguay); 9pm (Georgia)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo (UY)
Weather: Cloudy; 11°C (52°F); Wind SE 7 to 9 mph (11 to 14 km/h)
Broadcast: ESPN

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Tomás Ninci (Argentina); Federico Longobardi (Argentina)
TMO: Dan Jones (England)

 

VS – HISTORICAL RESULTS

11-06-2022 – Georgia 34-18 Uruguay (Tbilisi, GE)
09-29-2019 – Georgia 33-7 Uruguay (Kumagaya, JP)
06-13-2015 – Georgia 19-10 Uruguay (Tbilisi, GE)
06-11-2013 – Georgia 27-3 Uruguay (Tbilisi, GE)
06-15-2008 – Georgia 20-18 Uruguay (Bucharest, RO)
10-28-2003 – Georgia 12-24 Uruguay (Sydney, AU)

– 1 WIN

– 5 WINS