By Lawrence White
BORDEAUX (Reuters) – Uruguay welcomed back scrumhalf Santiago Arata, star of their 2019 World Cup victory over Fiji, as they named their team for the intimidating Pool A clash against this year’s tournament hosts France in Lille on Thursday.
The livewire Arata seized on a loose ball to notch the crucial first try in the 30-27 defeat of Fiji at the last World Cup that showed what Uruguay are capable of.
They will need every ounce of luck however to try and keep the score competitive, let alone dream of victory, against a France team that swept aside the All Blacks in the opening game of the World Cup and are many fans’ favourites for the trophy.
An experienced Uruguay matchday squad contains 11 survivors in the starting lineup from that 2019 tournament and three more on the bench.
Key among them is flyhalf Felipe Etcheverry, a rugby sevens stalwart capable of a clean break when in space as much as he controls the game with kicks out of hand.
Andres Vilaseca of French club Vannes captains from inside centre against a France side who have made sweeping changes but will still pose a monumental challenge for the South Americans.
Team:
1 Mateo Sanguinetti
2 Guillermo Pujadas
3 Ignacio Peculo
4 Felipe Aliaga
5 Manuel Leindekar
6 Manuel Ardao
7 Santiago Civetta
8 Manuel Diana
9 Santiago Arata
10 Felipe Etcheverry
11 Nicolas Freitas
12 Andres Vilaseca (c)
13 Tomas Inciarte
14 Bautista Basso
15 Baltazar Amaya
Replacements:
16 Facundo Gattas
17 Matias Benitez
18 Reinaldo Piussi
19 Ignacio Dotti
20 Lucas Bianchi
21 Carlos Deus
22 Agustin Ormaechea
23 Felipe Berchesi
(Reporting By Lawrence White)
