Los Teros name squad for Japan 2019

Uruguay coach Esteban Meneses has named his squad for Rugby World Cup 2019, one featuring two brothers – sons of a Los Teros legend – and 12 players returning for their second tournament.

Brothers Juan Diego and Agustín Ormaechea (pictured) will follow in the footsteps of their famous father Diego after they were both named in Uruguay’s 31-man squad for Japan 2019.

Flanker Juan Diego is in line to make his Rugby World Cup debut next month while younger brother Agustín is one of 12 players returning for a second tournament. He is again included as a scrum-half, the position from which he scored a try against Fiji four years ago.

Indefatigable flanker Juan Gaminara will captain Los Teros in Japan and is one of 18 forwards included in the 31-man squad by coach Esteban Meneses.

Meneses expects Japan 2019 to a be a physically wearing tournament. Los Teros open their campaign against Fiji in Kamaishi on 25 September before playing Georgia in Kumagaya four days later. 
Matches against Australia, in Oita on 5 October, and Wales, in Kumamoto on 13 October, round off Uruguay’s Pool D commitments.

“We have selected eight front rowers because I think that it is in the forwards that the wear in a tournament such as this will hit us most,” Meneses said after announcing the squad on Friday.

“This gives us the possibility of traveling with three loose-heads, one of which can double as a hooker. The distance between Uruguay and Japan made us consider this.”

Hard decisions to make

Meneses, who will step down after Rugby World Cup 2019, acknowledged the responsibility of selecting Los Teros' squad alongside his assistants.

“It was very hard; locks and loose forwards made it very tough, but the hard decisions were taken from the technical side, looking for what is best for the team.

“We have a good combination of players that went to RWC 2015 and younger players that have been in our system since we started, working hard.

“When we decided on the 36 players that were in the process for RWC, we knew they'd all be of the right standard to play the way we want to play the game. That is why the decision of not selecting some was so hard. It came down to details. They all worked very hard.”

Uruguay edged a Sudamérica XV 24-20 last week and an hour before Meneses announced the squad they a Brazil XV 43-5 in Montevideo. Next week, before traveling to Japan, they will play at home against an Argentina XV.

For Meneses, the goal is simply for Rugby World Cup 2019, with his insistence that “the first two games [Fiji and Georgia] are the most important”.

Uruguay squad for Rugby World Cup 2019

Forwards: Facundo Gattas, Joaquín Jaunsolo, Mateo Sanguinetti, Germán Kessler, Guillermo Pujadas, Diego Arbelo, Juan Echeverría, Juan Pedro Rombys, Ignacio Dotti, Manuel Leindekar, Diego Magno, Franco Lamana, Manuel Ardao, Santiago Civetta, Manuel Diana, Juan Manuel Gaminara (capitán), Juan Diego Ormaechea, Alejandro Nieto

Backs: Agustín Ormaechea, Santiago Arata, Felipe Berchesi, Felipe Etcheverry, Juan Manuel Cat, Santiago Vilaseca, Agustín Della Corte, Tomás Inciarte, Federico Favaro, Nicolás Freitas, Leandro Leivas, Gastón Mieres, Rodrigo Silva.