After an enthralling first week of action, the second round of matches at the 2023 Rugby World Cup will get underway on Thursday evening, with France taking on Uruguay at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Les Bleus were sensational in their opening game of the tournament and will be looking to maintain their impressive form in this match, while Los Teros will be hoping to pull off an upset in their opening fixture of the tournament.
Match preview
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France will come into this match brimming with confidence after securing their first win of the competition, overcoming the mighty All Blacks 27-13 last week in front of 80,000 fans at Stade de France.
Damian Penaud and Melvyn Jaminet were the players who got over the try line for Les Bleus in the match, while Thomas Ramos contributed 17 points, knocking over five penalties and a conversion.
Despite the relatively comfortable-looking final scoreline, the battle between the two powerhouses of Pool A was a fierce one, and the French only managed to pull away from their opponents in the second half after heading into the break at 9-8.
Fabien Galthie's side were also caught out on a couple of occasions as Mark Telea broke their defence to score in each half, while Will Jordan being sent to the sin bin took the wind out of the All Blacks' sails just as they were building up momentum.
However, while the hosts will know that they can and probably will have to perform appreciably better for the remainder of the tournament, the fact that they handed New Zealand their first-ever pool defeat in a World Cup will give them genuine belief that they can go all the way this year.
They now set their sights on an opponent that they have never met in the past and will be eyeing up a big win which will take them to the top of Pool A, with current leaders Italy only scheduled to play their next match in a week.
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Meanwhile, Uruguay will be under no misapprehension about the size of the task they face here and will head into this match as massive underdogs to upset the host nation in what is expected to be another packed house in Villeneuve-d'Ascq.
However, Los Teros come into this competition carrying solid form, which included back-to-back wins in their warm-up matches, beating Chile 26-25 back in July and overcoming Namibia 26-18 at the start of last month.
The South Americans finished at the bottom of their Pool in the 2019 World Cup in Japan, although they did manage one win in the competition, famously beating Fiji 30-27 in their opening match.
Head coach Esteban Meneses was at the helm for that win four years ago, and the long-serving boss will undoubtedly have a plan to try and repeat that feat this year, though he will know that his side's best chances of securing points will likely come against the likes of Namibia and possibly Italy.
Uruguay have never beaten a tier-one team at a Rugby World Cup, and their only success against a high-performance union came over Japan, though that was before the Brave Blossoms were bumped up to elite status in 2020.
France Rugby World Cup form:
- W
France form (all competitions):
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
Uruguay form (all competitions):
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
Team News
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Galthie has opted to make wholesale changes to the team he put out against the All Blacks last week, announcing as many as 12 changes for the upcoming encounter against Los Teros.
Cameron Woki, Gabin Villiere and Yoram Moefana are the three players that have retained their spots in the starting 15, while Anthony Jelonch will return for his first start for Les Bleus since 2021 and will captain the side from the back of the scrum.
Julien Marchand has been flagged with a hamstring injury and will hope to be back to full fitness for the match against Italy, meaning Pierre Bourgarit will step into the hooker position for this one.
Meneses has gone with an experienced outfit for this match, with 11 players who featured in the 2019 World Cup set to take part in this opening fixture.
Among the returning starters are Mateo Sanguinetti, Guillermo Pujadas, Manuel Leindeker, Manuel Ardao, and Santiago Civetta, with Andres Vilaseca set to play in his third World Cup tournament as skipper.
Felipe Etcheverry, Tomas Inciarte and Baltazar Amaya represented their nation at the 2022 World Cup Sevens in South Africa last year, and their performances have earned them a call-up to the biggest stage for this match.
France starting lineup: 15. Melvyn Jaminet, 14. Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 13. Arthur Vincent, 12. Yoram Moefana, 11. Gabin Villiere, 10. Antoine Hastoy, 9. Maxime Lucu, 8. Anthony Jelonch (c), 7. Sekou Macalou, 6. Paul Boudehent, 5. Romain Taofifenua, 4. Cameron Woki, 3. Dorian Aldegheri, 2. Pierre Bourgarit , 1. Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16. Peato Mauvaka, 17. Reda Wardi, 18. Sipili Falatea, 19. Bastien Chalureau, 20. Thibaud Flament, 21. Francois Cros, 22. Baptiste Couilloud, 23. Thomas Ramos
Uruguay starting lineup: 15. Baltazar Amaya, 14. Bautista Basso, 13. Tomas Inciarte, 12. Andres Vilaseca (c), 11. Nicolas Freitas, 10. Felipe Etcheverry, 9. Santiago Arata, 8. Manuel Diana, 7. Santiago Civetta, 6. Manuel Ardao, 5. Manuel Leindekar, 4. Felipe Aliaga, 3. Ignacio Peculo, 2. Guillermo Pujadas, 1. Mateo Sanguinetti
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 To Head
This marks the first time that France and Uruguay will face each other in a competitive rugby union match.
We say: France 58-6 Uruguay
After an excellent performance by the French last week, it is difficult to make much of a case for Los Teros in this one. Les Bleus are currently behind Italy in the standings and will be eyeing up a big win here to move past Gli Azzurri in the table.
We fancy the hosts to win this match by at least 50 points.
No Data Analysis info
Devesh Jaganath
