Kessler and Mieres return - Uruguay announce squad to play Italy

Uruguay head coach Esteban Meneses has named his squad to face Italy in Stade de Nice on Wednesday 20 September.

Meneses has recalled two star names to the starting line-up with hooker German Kessler and wing Gaston Mieres set to play against the Italians.

Head coach Esteban Meneses has made only two changes to his starting 15 from the team that lost 27-12 against France in Lille, with German Kessler coming in at hooker and Gaston Mieres onto the wing.

There are 13 survivors in the match-day 23 from the last time they played Italy in 2021, including 11 in the starting line-up - German Kessler, Ignacio Peculo, Manual Ardao, Nicolas Freitas, Felipe Etcheverry, Tomas Inciarte, Manuel Diana, Diego Arbelo, Manuel Leindekar, Gaston Mieres and their only try-scorer that day, Matteo Sanguinetti.

Gaston Mieres returns to the starting XV for the first time since their warm-up match against Argentina XV in August. This will be his third Rugby World Cup after playing every minute of their 2015 campaign and averaging 55 minutes across three appearances in 2019. He made his test debut in 2010 against Paraguay and has scored 16 tries across 76 tests for Uruguay.

Santiago Civetta is yet to miss a tackle in 2023 - completing all 33 attempts - including a team-high nine tackles against France last game.

German Kessler and Manuel Ardao are the only two Uruguayans to have scored more than one try in 2023, with Kessler scoring a double against Argentina XV, and Ardao with one against Chile and one against Argentina XV.

German Kessler has won 20 of his 22 lineout throws this year, with his only two losses coming against Argentina XV – one not straight and one a clean steal off the top.

1 Mateo Sanguinetti
2 German Kessler
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 Gaston Mieres
15 Baltazar Amaya

Replacements
16 Guillermo Pujadas
17 Facundo Gattas
18 Diego Arbelo
19 Ignacio Dotti
20 Carlos Deus
21 Agustin Ormaechea
22 Felipe Berchesi
23 Bautista Basso