Wales vs. Uruguay: Preview, Live Stream, TV Info for Rugby World Cup 2015 Game

Wales take on Uruguay at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in their opening Pool A match knowing they must rack up the points and avoid suffering any more injuries. Failure to accomplish either of those tasks will make Wales’ progress out of the fiendishly tough group all the harder.

Acknowledging this, coach Waren Gatland commented, as per the BBC: "We know we need to be clinical on Sunday."

Uruguay, on the other hand, need to try to avoid a drubbing.

The South Americans will be committed, but they will need to make sure they do not show the kind of indiscipline they exhibited in their warm-up match in Tokyo (see video below), when scrum-half Agustin Ormaechea saw yellow for a tackle off the ball and flanker Juan Gaminara was binned for a very late collision.

Having struggled with the speed of Japan’s clear-outs and attacking phases, Wales will not present the most appealing opposition.

Match Details

Date: Sunday, September 20

Time: 2:30 p.m. BST/9:30 a.m. ET

Venue: Millennium Stadium

TV Info: UK, ITV1; Australia, Fox Sports; NZ, SkySport; South Africa, SuperSports

Live Stream: ITV Player (UK only)

Last five games

Wales’ recent form is mixed. In their first World Cup warm-up match Wales suffered a 21-35 defeat at home to Ireland, in which both sides fielded fringe players. An impressive 10-16 win in Dublin followed, before Wales rounded off their preparations with a nervy 23-19 success against Italy at the Millennium Stadium.

September 5	Wales 23-19 Italy
August 29	Ireland 10-16 Wales
August 8	Wales 21-35 Ireland
March 21	Italy 10-61 Wales
March 14	Wales 23-16 Ireland

Uruguay prepared for the 2015 Rugby World Cup with an away double-header against Japan and closed their warm-up fixtures with a game against a Spanish region: the Basque Country. Unlike Wales, they were spared injuries by resting 14 players from the exertions against Japan, and won 41-19 (in Spanish).

September 7	Basque Country 19-41 Uruguay
August 29	Japan 40-0 Uruguay
August 22	Japan 30-8 Uruguay
June 21	Emerging Italy 23-13 Uruguay
June 17	Emerging Ireland 33-7 Uruguay

Team lineups

Wales: Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Cory Allen, Scott Williams, Hallam Amos, Rhys Priestland, Gareth Davies; Paul James, Scott Baldwin, Samson Lee, Jake Ball, Luke Charteris, Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, James King

Uruguay: Gaston Mieres, Santiago Gibernau, Joaquin Prada, Andres Vilaseca, Rodrigo Silva, Felipe Berchesi, Agustin Ormaechea; Alejo Corral, Carlos Arboleya, Mario Sagario, Santiago Vilaseca, Jorge Zerbino, Juan Manuel Gaminara, Matias Beer, Alejandro Nieto

Players to watch

Wales: Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric

Wales have rested many of their big names, so particularly intriguing will be the combination on the flank of captain Sam Warburton, who moves to blindside, and Justin Tipuric on the openside. Both classical No. 7s, they will help Wales play a fast game designed to rack up as many points as possible.

The pair have previously played together in the 30-3 thrashing of England in 2013 and although Uruguay will not be a true test of their skills, their selection will cause England and Australia to do some thinking about breakdown tactics ahead of their clashes with the Dragons. For all their injuries, Wales have enviable options in the back row.

For their part, Australia recently employed the same idea, with Michael Hooper and David Pocock, to great effect against New Zealand. Wales might look to Warburton and Tipuric to stifle the Aussie pair, and dominate England on the floor.

Ahead of those matches, Wales' two fetchers will be sure to show their quality against Uruguay.

Uruguay: Agustin Ormaechea and Felipe Berchesi

Uruguay will look to their half-backs, to provide direction both in this game and throughout the tournament. Ormaechea needs to watch his discipline and Berchesi will need to kick any penalties Uruguay win 50 metres from the posts. 

Prediction

There is no doubt that Wales, even if rustiness gets in the way in the first half, will run riot in the second. Uruguay will miss tackles and tire in the second 40. Wales scored 47 points in the second half against Italy in Rome in the 2015 Six Nations after only recording a 13-11 half-time lead. Expect Wales to have about 30 points in the opening half, and another 50 by full time.

Odds

Wales 1/1000

Uruguay 100/1

Draw 100/1

Via oddschecker.com