Hong Kong had a tough defensive start in Round 1, getting overwhelmed 66\u201319 by Samoa in a dominant try-fest. In Round 2, they fell 38\u201317 to Chile\u00a0in an old-fashioned forward clash where their discipline faltered, suffering four yellow cards during the match and leaving them without a bonus point.<\/p>\n
Uruguay and Hong Kong are involved in the World Rugby Nations Cup\u00a0because they both qualified for the expanded 24-team 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Participation is limited to Rugby World Cup 2027 teams who are not involved in the Nations Championship. Teams such as Belgium, Namibia and Brazil are excluded.<\/p>\n
Under World Rugby\u2019s new international calendar tier system launched in 2026, the World Rugby Nations Cup acts as the official second-division tournament. It was specifically designed to provide consistent, and meaningful competition for the 12 second-tier nations during the July and November international test windows.<\/p>\n
The structural format and reasoning behind their inclusion is primarily Rugby World Cup preparation. The tournament serves as a crucial development pathway, allowing teams like Uruguay (a seasoned World Cup regular) and Hong Kong (preparing for their debut) to build early narratives and gain physical match experience against teams they will face in Australia.<\/p>\n
It is organized in a cross-pool format. World Rugby split the 12 teams into two geographic groups. Uruguay is placed in the Americas-Pacific pool, while Hong Kong China sits in the European-African-Asian pool. Every team strictly plays the opponents from the opposite pool, which is why they are facing each other in the current July window.<\/p>\n
There is no promotion to the Nations Championship; however, future promotion is a possibility. It remains to be seen whether or not a promotion and relegation system will be introduced between this second-tier Nations Cup and the top-tier Nations Championship, giving both countries a direct competitive pipeline to play elite tier-one rugby nations.<\/p>\n
DATE July 4, 2026 July 11, 2026 \u00a0<\/p>\n DATE July 11, 2026 July 5, 2026 July 4, 2026 June 8, 2026 May 24, 2026 June 20, 2026 \u00a0<\/p>\n 11 14 15 3 4 6 10 11 12 13 14 15 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The only prior test match between the teams was in 2014. It was a repechage match as part of Rugby World Cup Qualifying. Uruguay won 28-3. It was played at the same venue as where Saturday\u2019s match will be. \u00a0<\/p>\n Replacements: 16 M\u00e1ximo Lamelas, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Santiago Cagnone, 19 Manuel Rosmarino, 20 Mateo Sosa, 21 Ignacio Rodriguez Bosch, 22 Francisco Landauer, 23 Alfonso Vidal<\/p>\n HONG KONG Replacements: 16 Ng Siu Lung, 17 Sunia Fameitau, 18 Zac Cinnamond, 19 Maximilan Murphy, 20 Dana Fourie, 21 Brendon Nell, 22 Issac Campbell-Wu, 23 Maxwell Threlkeld<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Uruguay\u2019s game plan pairs physical aggression with rapid-transition offense, relying on a relentless defensive press and dominant set-pieces to exhaust opposing packs and unleash explosive backline runners into disorganized defensive lines. In contrast, Hong Kong China utilizes a structured, technical approach to neutralize physically larger teams, using tactical kicking to pin opposition deep in their territory while prioritizing disciplined drift defense and rapid, coast-to-coast offloads. Uruguay are favorites to win in Montevideo.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Venue: Estadio Charr\u00faa, Montevideo \u00a0<\/p>\n Referee: Craig Evans (Wales) \u00a0<\/p>\n Date August 2, 2014![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/logo-uruguay-thumbnail.png\"){kind=logo}
URUGUAY \u2013 WORLD RANKING 17<\/a> (67.62)<\/p>\n
\nCOMPETITION
\nOPPONENT
\nRESULT
\nSCORE
\nVENUE<\/p>\n
\nWorld Rugby Nations Cup
\nGeorgia
\nLoss
\n34\u201341 Georgia
\nEstadio Charr\u00faa, Montevideo<\/p>\n
\nWorld Rugby Nations Cup
\nRomania
\nDraw
\n36\u201336
\nEstadio Charr\u00faa, Montevideo<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/logo-hong-kong-thumbnail.png\"){kind=logo}
HONG KONG \u2013 WORLD RANKING 24<\/a> (58.86)<\/p>\n
\nCOMPETITION
\nOPPONENT
\nRESULT
\nSCORE
\nVENUE<\/p>\n
\nWorld Rugby Nations Cup
\nChile
\nLoss
\n17-38
\nEstadio Sausalito, Vi\u00f1a del Mar, Chile<\/p>\n
\nWorld Rugby Nations Cup
\nSamoa
\nLoss
\n19-66
\nEstadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile<\/p>\n
\nFriendly
\nHK China Dragons
\nDraw
\n5-5
\nHong Kong FC, Hong Kong<\/p>\n
\nAsia Rugby Championship
\nSouth Korea
\nWin
\n45-9
\nHong Kong FC Hong Kong<\/p>\n
\nAsia Rugby Championship
\nSri Lanka
\nWin
\n15-14
\nRacecourse Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka<\/p>\n
\nFriendly
\nSingapore Select
\nLoss
\n21-23
\nSingapore<\/p>\n
\nIN
\nOUT<\/p>\n
\nFranco Scaldaferri
\nIgnacio \u00c1lvarez Akiki<\/p>\n
\nJuan Gonzalez
\nFrancisco Gonz\u00e1lez Capdevilia<\/p>\n
\nFrancisco Gonz\u00e1lez Capdevilia
\nJuan Gonz\u00e1lez<\/p>\n
\nIN
\nOUT<\/p>\n
\nKeelan Chapman
\nZac Cinnamond<\/p>\n
\nJames Rivers
\nLachlan Doheny<\/p>\n
\nLachlan Doheny
\nTyler McNutt<\/p>\n
\nMatteo Avitabile
\nJoe Barker<\/p>\n
\nSeb Brian
\nHarry Sawyer<\/p>\n
\nThomas Hill
\nIsaac Campbell-Wu<\/p>\n
\nMarcus Ramage
\nMax Threlkeld<\/p>\n
\nPaul Altier
\nMarcus Ramage<\/p>\n
\nMatthew Worley
\nPaul Altier<\/p>\n\u2013 Santiago Cagnone (LH), M\u00e1ximo Lamelas (HK), Mateo Sosa (No. 8), Francisco Scaldaferri (WI).<\/p>\n\u2013 M Sanguinetti (98), I Dotti (74), M Diana (55), M Ardao (40), L Bianchi (28), F Aliaga (24).<\/p>\n \u2013 S Brien (26), A Post (25), P Altier (21), J Hrstich (21), Z Cinnamond (19), M Worley (16).<\/p>\n\u2013 F Landauer (1), I Rodr\u00edguez Bosch (1), A Vidal (1), J Cotarmanac\u2019h (4), F Gonz\u00e1lez Capdevilia, M Rosmarino (4)<\/p>\n \u2013 J Rivers (1), I Campbell-Wu (2), L Doheny (2), M Murphy (3), N Siu Lung (3), M Avitabile (3).<\/p>\n \u2013 Francisco Su\u00e1rez (LH), Germ\u00e1n Kessler (HK), Guillermo Pujadas (HK), Diego Arbelo (TH), Ignacio P\u00e9culo (TH), Manuel Leindekar (LO), Santiago Civetta (FL), Carlos Deus (FL), Santiago \u00c1lvarez (SH), Santiago Arata (SH), Felipe Etcheverry (FH), Andr\u00e9s Vilaseca (CE), Bautista Basso (WI), Baltazar Amaya (FB)<\/p>\n \u2013 Callum McFeat-Smith (TH), Patrick Jenkinson (LO), Mark Prior (LO), Callum McCullough (FL), Luke van der Smit (FL), Nathan DeThierry (FH), Ben Axten-Burrett (CE), Guy Spanton (WI)<\/p>\n
\nSecond-rower Felipe Alaga captains the side with 24 caps in a heavily rotated lineup designed to build roster depth.\u00a0
\nIgnacio Dotti will earn his 75th cap for Uruguay.
\nUruguay\u2019s total cap count is 422.
\nLoosehead prop Mateo Sanguinetti\u00a0leads the squad with 98 caps as he inches closer to the historic 100-cap milestone.
\nRodolfo Ambrosio\u2019s one change sees Francisco Scaldaferri making his debut for Los Teros. Replacements Santiago Cagnone, M\u00e1ximo Lamelas, and Mateo Sosa will also all earn their first caps.
\nM\u00e1ximo Lamelas will become a second generation Tero. His father, Diego Lamelas played\u00a0in both the 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cups. Following in his father\u2019s footsteps, M\u00e1ximo plays in the front row as a hooker.
\n3\/23 of Ambrosio\u2019s players are not from Uruguay. Jean Cotarmanac\u2019h is from France) while Francisco Gonz\u00e1lez Capdevila and Santiago Cagnone are from Argentina. All are parent qualified for Los Teros.
\nHead coach Logan Asplin has made nine changes to the Hong Kong starting lineup following their Round 2 loss to Chile.<\/a> Lachlan Doheny changes from second-row to flanker with New Zealander Tyler McNutt out injured. Scrum-half is the only unchanged position in the backline.
\nReplacement hooker Ng Siu Lung is the only ethnically Chinese player in the 23.
\nSiu Lung is one of six homegrown players in the 23 to face Los Teros. Siu Lung is a fully local product who developed entirely within the domestic club pathway. Alexander Post, and Matteo Avitabile\u00a0were all born in the city and trained at HKCR youth academies. Additionally, Matthew Worley and brothers Rory Cinnamond and Zac Cinnamond moved to Hong Kong as young children. In short, Uruguay\u2019s 23-man lineup is 86.96% homegrown, which contracts with Hong Kong\u2019s match-day squad at 26.09% homegrown.
\nFlanker Lachlan Doheny is from Australia. He qualifies for Hong Kong via his mother was born in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Joaqu\u00edn Myszka, 3 Reinaldo Piussi, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Felipe Aliaga (capt.), 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Joaqu\u00edn Su\u00e1rez, 10 Jean Cotarmanac\u2019h, 11 Francisco Scaldaferri, 12 Juan Manuel Alonso, 13 Felipe Arcos P\u00e9rez, 14 Juan Gonz\u00e1lez, 15 Francisco Gonz\u00e1lez Capdevilia<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
1 Rory Cinnamond, 2 Alexander Post, 3 Keelan Chapman, 4 James Rivers, 5 Kyle Sullivan, 6 Lachlan Doheny, 7 Pierce Mackinlay-West, 8 Josh Hrstich (capt.), 9 Jack Combes, 10 Matteo Avitabile, 11 Seb Brian, 12 Thomas Hill, 13 Marcus Ramage, 14 Paul Altier, 15 Matthew Worley<\/p>\n
Date: Saturday, July 18
Kick-Off: 2:00pm (Uruguay); 1:00am Sunday (Hong Kong)
Weather: Light Rain Showers; 15\u00b0C Wind S 5 mph
Broadcast: Disney + (Uruguay); Rugby Pass<\/p>\n
Assistants: Tom\u00e1s Ninci (Argentina); Cau\u00e3 Ricardo Santos (Brazil)
TMO: Dan Jones (England)<\/p>\n
\nCompetition
\nWinner
\nScore
\nVenue<\/p>\n
\n2015 Rugby World Cup repechage
\nUruguay
\nUruguay 28\u20133 Hong Kong
\nEstadio Charr\u00faa, Montevideo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uruguay play host to Hong Kong on Saturday as part of the World Rugby Nations Cup. The fixture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[108869,64,63,224900,145827,760,85,240178,361771],"class_list":["post-806079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-july-internationals","tag-nations-cup","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-sudamerica-rugby","tag-world-rugby-nations-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}