Uruguay beats Namibia 36-26 in search of its first victory in the Rugby World Cup

A new week of action has begun in the Rugby World Cup and the first matchup is for Group A of the World Cup France 2023: Uruguay and Namibia faces are seen at the Olympique de Lyon stadium. The match continues Star+.

The match started with the South American team somewhat distracted and two errors cost them tries from the Africans. First was Gerswin Mouton when intercepting a pass in the build-up to the play and then JC Greyling He received a pass near the flag to enter the ingoal for the second time. With the scrum as his main weapon, he was Baltazar Amaya who managed to score for Uruguay, which reduced the score to 14-5 in the first moments of the match.

A penalty once again distanced Namibia but Los Teros once again bet on the formations and through a maul that was generated in a line, managed to support the hands of German Kessler with subsequent conversion of Felipe Etcheverry. However, another infringement was taken advantage of by Tiaan Swanepoel who scored another three points to make the score 20-12.

The second half started with Uruguay determined to win the match and quickly managed to score a new try, again in the hands of Baltasar Amaya. The South Americans took advantage of the moment of confidence and hit twice but this time it was an excellent individual play by Santiago Arata which he supported almost under the sticks to turn the score around.

Namibia’s fatigue began to show on the field of play and they resorted to constant infractions that ended up costing them two yellow cards and a red one for Desiderius Sethie due to a shoulder bump against Arata’s head. For several minutes, The Teros were left with two extra players on the playing field. Using the width of the field, Uruguay scored the try that knocked out the African team: a kick to the right corner so that Bautista Basso captures the ball and supports inside the ingoal.

* Amaya scored Uruguay’s first try

The Teros They came to the duel against the Africans as candidates for victory. The captain of the South American team already highlighted it before the match. “Uruguay has only won three games in its history in the Rugby World Cupand this adds maybe some pressure on our team,” he said. Andres Vilaseca. The other victories that Uruguay achieved in the history of the World Cup was a 27-15 against Spain in 1999, 24-12 over Georgia in 2003 and a 30-27 against Fiji in the 2019 edition.

“There are many people talking about the good face we are showing at the World Cup. We have also received very nice messages, but the truth is that if we did not beat Namibia we would not confirm this progress. For us it is a final and for them too. It is going to be a very interesting match,” added the Uruguayan rugby leader.

After the good debut against the French that ended in defeat (12-27), the Uruguayans aimed to strike against Italy. But despite an encouraging start, the European team took advantage of its greatest international exposure and took the 38-17 victory. This is why Los Teros are going for victory to guarantee their stay in the next World Cup in Australia 2027.

In relation to this possibility, the one who was forceful in his message was Oscar Durán, assistant to coach Esteban Meneses: “We are fine, involved. We know how important this match is for us, perhaps above all the others. “We finish defining here whether it is a good World Cup or not.”

On the Namibians’ side, they lost all 25 games they played in the history of the World Cups., including the three heavy losses in the 2023 edition: against New Zealand (71-3), Italy (52-8) and France (96-0). The salient fact in the African team is that its captain Johan Deysel received six dates of suspension after the blow he dealt to Antoine Dupont, star of the Blues.

The history of crosses between both teams shows that this is the sixth head-to-head between the two. In the five previous occasions, Uruguay won four times, including a friendly they won in August before the World Cup (26-18).

Formations:

Uruguay: 1. Matthew Sanguinetti, 2. Germain Kessler, 3. Diego Arbelo, 4. Philip Aliaga, 5. Manuel Leindekar, 6. Manuel Ardao, 7. James Civetta, 8. Carlos Deus, 9. James Arata, 10. Philip Etcheverry , 11- Nicholas Freitas, 12- Andres Vilaseca (C), 13- Felipe Arcos Perez, 14- Bautista Basso, 15- Baltazar Amaya.

Substitutes: 16. Guillermo Pujadas, 17. Facundo Gattas, 18. Reinaldo Piussi, 19. Juan Manuel Rodriguez, 20. Eric Dosantos, 21. Augustin Ormaechea, 22. Philip 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

Suplentes: 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

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)

Assistant Referee 1: Nic Berry (RA)

Assistant Referee 2: Chris Busby (IRFU)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)