March 3, 2016
Uruguay – Eagles Preview: Americas Rugby Championship
Doug Coil
Uruguay Los Teros Head Coach Esteban Meneses has made eight changes for the match against the United States since last week’s narrow win against Chile. Three of of the changes were for professionals that played at the Rugby World Cup have been called to play for this last remaining Americas Rugby Championship match.
Tighthead prop Mario Sagario has come back from Ireland. Scrumhalf Agustín Ormaechea returned from France, while outside back Gastón Mieres arrived from England.
Two of the changes are to the front-row with Carlos Arboleya and Mario Sagario starting at Hooker and Prop, respectively.
Gonzalo Soto was selected at Lock and joins Diego Magno. The remaining forward changes finds Juan Diego Ormaechea starting at Flanker.
Agustín Ormaechea moves to scrum half and will team with Manuel Blengio at flyhalf. Andrés Vilaseca moves to inside center with Pedro Deal at outside center. Gastón Mieres returns from England to play wing.
John Mitchell will have two reinforcements as Nate Brakeley and Lorenzo Thomas have re-joined the team after missing the match in São Paulo.
Saturday’s test match will be played at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo. Kick-off is scheduled for 5:15pm local time, 3:15 ET.
USA Rugby Men’s Eagles
The Men’s Eagles will have two Premiership Rugby club players back for the last Americas Rugby Championship match on Saturday. The Newcastle Falcons have made Todd Clever available and the Saracens Titi Lamositele will also play.
Todd Clever will captain the team, the third time he has done so in the ARC. In the three prvious matches he has played, he has scored four tries. Titi Lamositele makes his debut in the ARC. He was selected for a previous match, but was needed by the Saracens.
Eagles Head Coach John Mitchell said “Todd’s leadership is at its best when he leads by example. This is a challenging situation for Titi, coming into a new situation, but also exciting that he has had a chance to see what we have started and to get back with his American mates.”
Eric Fry has provided a veteran leadership presence in the front row. He is joined by Lamositele at prop and Mike Sosene-Feagai at Hooker. The locks remain the same with Brodie Orth and Ben Landy. David Tameilau is at eightman and Aladdin Schirmer and Todd Clever are at Flanker.
In the backs, Lindenwood’s Deion Mikesell and Lorenzo Thomas, who both started for the AIG Men’s Junior All-Americans in the World Rugby U20 qualifier, join the team. Thomas earned his first cap against Chile and Mikesell will debut at wing. Tim Stanfill will be the other wing. Chad London is at inside center and JP Eloff is at fullback. Mike Te’o returns to scrumhalf and will team with James Bird at flyhalf.
Nate Brakeley also rejoins the team as an injury replacement as a reserve. He was scheduled to play at the Las Vegas Invitational for the Northeast Academy.
The Eagles enter this match in second place in the Americas Rugby Championship with 14 points. Argentina XV, so they need to win and hope for some help this week to win the championship.
Mitchell talked about both teams and indicated “we are both developing. They go to space with the ball on attack better than us at the moment, and their ball is quicker. Our style is in its early stages of its development – what you witnessed in last week’s performance is in conflict with where we want our attack to be; we went back to the old way.”
1. Eric Fry 2. Mike Sosene-Feagai 3. Titi Lamositele 4. Brodie Orth 5. Ben Landry 6. Aladdin Schirmer 7. Todd Clever (C) 8. David Tameilau 9. Mike Te’o 10. James Bird 11. Tim Stanfill
12. Chad London 13. Lorenzo Thomas 14. Deion Mikesell 15. JP Eloff 16. Joseph Taufete’e
17. Olive Kilifi 18. Demecus Beach 19. Nate Brakeley 20. Hanco Germishuys 21. Niku Kruger
22. Ryan Matyas 23. Jake AndersonUruguay
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Carlos Arboleya, 3 Mario Sagario, 4 Gonzalo Soto, 5 Diego Magno, 6 Juan Gaminara, 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 10 Manuel Blengio, 11 Gastón Mieres, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Pedro Deal, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Rodrigo Silva 16 German Kessler, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Mathias Palomeque, 20 Matías Beer, 21 Alberto Román, 22 Guillermo Lijtenstein, 23 Federico Favaro
The other Americas Rugby Championship matches include Chile v Canada and Brazil v Argentina
