Namibia make their final appearance of Rugby World Cup 2023 at the OL Stadium on Wednesday at 17:45, still looking for the overdue win to end their tournament losing streak.
History is in Uruguay’s favour – they have won four of the five previous matches between the two sides, most recently in August this year, when they recorded a 26-18 Rugby World Cup warm-up match victory at Estadio Charrùa in Montevideo.
It has been a far-from-easy tournament for Namibia. They have scored just 11 points in their three matches to date – against Italy, New Zealand, and France – and conceded 219. But they will want to make a statement on their farewell to fans and rivals here in France.
For their last outing, head coach Allister Coetzee has made seven personnel changes to his starting XV from their last game against France, with four in the forward pack and three in the back-line. Johan Coetzee and Gerswin Mouton will be the only two players to have started all four matches, while Tjiuee Uanivi will captain the side for a fifth time.
On the team and captaincy selection Namibia head coach Allister Coetzee said: "You all know that our captain (Johan Deysel) was red carded against France. Unfortunate situation, I’m sure he would have loved to be captaining the last game, but I’ve got no doubt in my mind that Tjiuee will do a great job. He’s been captain before, he’s part of the leadership group and he’s an experienced player.
"The other changes are injury enforced changes. It’s tough to play four matches in 18 days for any tier-two country. When you don’t have a lot of depth in your squad it is really a challenge, but I must say our players have really stepped up.
In their way, Uruguay, who have caused problems for both France and Italy in their two matches to date, pushing the former all the way in Lille, and even leading 17-7 at half-time against the latter.
Coach Esteban Meneses has made four changes to his starting XV from that 38-17 loss against the Azzurri. Diego Arbelo replaces Ignacio Peculo in the front-row, Carlos Deus comes in for Manuel Diana in the back-row and Bautista Basso replaces Gaston Mieres on the right wing, while Felipe Arcos Perez will make his Rugby World Cup debut, replacing Tomas Inciarte in midfield.
Esteban Meneses said the squad is in great condition: "We want to keep building on we have been doing in the RWC so far. We have the intention of continuing to make history”.
“Our next challenge is Namibia. We recently faced them at the Charrúa (stadium of the Uruguayan Rugby Union) but this is a totally different stage. For them it is the most important game they have and they have said it openly, for us, it’s a final. We want to take on the responsibility and commitment of this match, and confirm what we have been doing in this RWC.”
“The squad is convinced of our game plan, so it doesn’t matter who comes in, they are all in the same page and with the same mindset to come out and beat Namibia on Wednesday. We want to be main protagonists, with and without the ball”.
Teams:
Uruguay: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 German Kessler, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Carlos Deus, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolas Freitas, 12 Andres Vilaseca (c), 13 Felipe Arcos Perez, 14 Bautista Basso, 15 Baltazar Amaya. Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Juan Manuel, Rodríguez, 20 Eric Dosantos, 21 Agustin Ormaechea, 22 Felipe Berchesi, 23 Juan Manuel Alonso.
Namibia: 1 Jason Benade, 2 Torsten Van Jaarsveld, 3 Johan Coetzee, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 5 Tiaan De Klerk, 6 Prince Gaoseb, 7 Tjiuee Uanivi (c), 8 Richard Hardwick, 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 11 JC Greyling, 12 Danco Burger, 13 Alcino Izaacs, 14 Gerswin Mouton, 15 Cliven Loubser. Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Desiderius Sethie, 18 Haitembu Shifuka, 19 PJ Van Lill, 20 Max Katjijeko, 21 Adriaan Booysen, 22 Jacques Theron, 23 Andre van der Bergh.