Arata returns - Uruguay announce squad to play France

Head coach Esteban Meneses has named his squad to face France in Stade de Pierre-Mauroy in Lille on Thursday, with Castres scrum-half Santiago Arata back in the starting XV after recovering from a hand injury.

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 

• Head coach Esteban Meneses has named an experienced line-up with 11 survivors in his starting team from RWC 2019 in Mateo Sanguinetti, Guillermo Pujadas, Manuel Leindeker, Manuel Ardao, Santiago Civetta, Manuel Diana, Santiago Arata, Felipe Etcheverry, Nicolas Freitas, Abdres Vilaseca and Tomas Inciarte, and a further three players on the bench. 
• Five players in the match-day 23 play their club rugby in France, with Santiago Arata for Castres, Nicolas Freitas and Andrés Vilaseca for Vannes, Manuel Leindekar for Bayonne and Agustin Ormaechea for Nice.
• Felipe Etcheverry, Tomas Inciarte and Baltazar Amaya all represented Uruguay at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022, with Amaya scoring the second-most tries of any player in Cape Town last year with five. 
• Etcheverry has generated much of Uruguay’s attack this season with a team-high 24 carries for 178 metres and four offloads, and the second-most defenders beaten with five.
• Captain Andrés Vilaseca and Agustin Ormaechea will become the first Uruguayans to play at three Rugby World Cup tournaments, and set a new appearance record in their ninth game
• Agustin Ormaechea’s father Diego still holds the Rugby World Cup record for being the oldest player ever to play a game, aged 40 years and 26 days when he stepped onto the field against South Africa in Glasgow at RWC 1999.