Playing at home soil did little to the England’s Rugby World Cup aspirations, as the Red and Whites are no longer in contention of the top prize in the tournament. That said, England still has zero excuses to lose to a minnow in the form of Uruguay this coming Sunday. The Los Teros are winless so far in the 2015 RWC, but they could still grab headlines all over if they could pull off an upset of epic proportions.
Read on for a brief rundown of this matchup. You can also click here for an overview of South Africa vs. USA.
[sc:Other240banner ]Perhaps Stuart Lancaster can think about job security once everything in this tournament is said and done. For now, he’ll have to find a way to help England finish on a positive note following an embarrassing loss at the hands of Australia on Saturday, 33-13.
Changes on England’s lineup were already announced by Lancaster after the shock loss to the Wallabies. Part of the shuffle is George Ford, who’ll return to fly-half, which he played in at the start of the tournament. Alex Goode, meanwhile, will take full-back duties and Henry Slade will play outside center. All told, Lancaster has made nine changes in the lineup, which, hopefully, for the Red and Whites, will guarantee them a face-saving victory over massive underdog, Uruguay.
England is having a tough time scoring tries, ranking just 12th with six so far in the tournament. Instead, the team has made a living out of penalties, as evidenced by the Red and Whites’ tournament-leading 10 penalties scored. However, there should be little trouble for England to score five-pointers against Uruguay, which gave up seven tries to Fiji in a 47-15 loss last Tuesday.
No one expected Uruguay to make waves in the Rugby World Cup. Despite a 0-3 record, though, the Los Teros still have a chance to send shockwaves across the tournament—and that’s if they take down host nation, England.
Of course, that’s going to be easier said than done, as Uruguay has been nothing but a mess in the tournament. The Los Teros have been blown out by an average of 46.3 points in the tournament, suggesting that their mere participation in the RWC is their pinnacle of success. That said, Uruguay is fully motivated to score an upset—or at least cover the point spread—when it goes up against the Red and Whites.
Like England. Uruguay has a tough time scoring tries in the tournament and mostly relied on penalty kicks this. Fly-half Felipe Berchesi, arguably the team’s best player, has led the team in points with 12, all coming from penalty kicks. It would be great for Uruguay if it could carry over its two-try form in the Fiji game. Prior to their crushing 47-15 loss to Fiji, the Los Teros went try-less in the RWC for 12 years.
