Paraguay play host to Uruguay in a Rugby World Cup 2027 qualifying match on Saturday. The fixture is the first of two in a home-and-away series. The winner, on aggregate, will advance to the South American Final to face either Brazil or Chile in September. The winner of that series will be confirmed as South America 1 at Australia 2027.
FORM GUIDE  |
Current World Ranking: 38 (48.35 points)
2025-07-19 – Salta 43-31 Paraguay (Salta, AR)
Current World Ranking: 17 (67.52 points)
2025-07-19 – Argentina 52-17 Uruguay (Salta, AR)
2025-07-12 – Uruguay 70-8 Romania (Montevideo, UY)
| SOUTH AMERICAN RWC QUALIFYING PICTURE |
Paraguay earned the right to compete in the final round of the South American qualifiers for Rugby World Cup 2027. Los Yacarés did so by claiming a record win over Colombia in October. The 49-18 victory saw Paraguay securing the final spot in the Sudamericano 2025 alongside Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.
Colombia were champions of the third tier of South America. The Four Nations competition, which also featured countries from Central America, involved Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Venezuela. Peru defeated Costa Rica 44-0, and Costa Rica had also lost to Colombia which meant a winless tournament and bottom place. Peru fell to Venezuela with Colombia beating Venezuela 50-05 in the final .
Colombia’s tournament win saw Costa Rica, Peru and Venezuela eliminated. Colombia advanced to face Paraguay with the winner sealing the fourth, and final, spot in the Sudamericano 2025. Either Paraguay or Colombia will join Uruguay, Chile and Brazil in the tournament. Chile and Brazil both qualified by winning their respective Rugby World Cup Qualifiers over Paraguay.
The Sudamericano 2025 champion will qualify for Australia 2027 as South America 1. That team will join Argentina as the second South American competitor confirmed in the tournament.
The runner-up of the Sudamericano 2025 will face the bottom team from the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup in a winner goes to the Rugby World Cup clash. The third placed team from the Sudamericano 2025 will advance to the Final Place Play-Off tournament to determine the 24th competitor at the World Cup.
- Rotation sees Mateo Perillo getting a start at loose head over 93-time capped Mateo Sanguinetti.
- Hooker Germán Kessler earns his 70th cap.
- N8 Manuel Diana will lead out Los Teros in what is his 50th test match.
- First-choice right winger, Bautista Basso moves to outside center.
- Winger Tomás Etcheverry debuted vs Japan in 2022, playing second-row. Despite him being Tomás “Pepo” Etcheverry; he could instead be “Samo.” The Wallabies second-rower, Radike Samo moved from second-row to wing to face Russia at Rugby World Cup 2011.
- Replacement Alfonso Perillo Albarracin will debut for Los Teros.
- Centers Andrés Vilaseca and Felipe Arcos Pérez are both out through injury.
- Uruguay are looking to qualify for a sixth Rugby World Cup. Los Teros competed at Rugby World Cups 1999, 2003, 2015, 2019 and 2023. Uruguay has RWC wins over Spain, Georgia, Fiji and Namibia.
- Paraguay has never qualified for a Rugby World Cup.
- Paraguay warmed-up with an away match against Salta in Argentina. The home side were 43-31 winners.
- Uruguay were 45-19 winners in the most recent test match between the teams.
- Uruguay is unbeaten in 26 prior test matches against Paraguay.
- Paraguay’s best result against Uruguay was a 9-9 draw in the 1985 South American Championship.
- The highest score recorded between the teams was Uruguay’s 102-6 win over Paraguay in 2011.
- Paraguay’s biggest win was against Bolivia. Los Yacarés won 109-0 against Bolivia in 2019.
- Uruguay warmed-up for RWC Qualifying with a recording breaking 70-8 win over Romania and a 52-17 loss against Argentina. The win was Uruguay biggest ever win against a Tier 2 opponent and Romania’s biggest ever defeat against a Tier 2 opponent. The loss against Argentina was a vastly better performance when compared to the same fixture in 2024.
- International competition between Paraguay and Uruguay began in 1971.
- Uruguay have scored 1279 points in matches against Paraguay while Paraguay have scored 235.
| RWC QUALIFIER vs TEAMS |
PARAGUAY
1 Daniel Cabral, 2 Agustín Benítez, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Mariano Garcete (capt.), Ignacio Martínez, 6 Francisco Bareiro, 7 Ariel Núñez, 8 Mateo Rodríguez, 9 Gonzalo Bareiro, 10 Joaquín Mussi, 11 Juan Gonzalez, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Ramiro Amarilla, 14 Gianfranco Parodi, 15 Arturo López
Replacements: 16 Jordi Chávez, 17 Cesar Pérez, 18 Estefano Aranda, 19 Juan José Heisecke, 20 Juan Martín Sebriano, 21 Camilo Blasco, 22 Diego Miño, 23 Hector Gayoso
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Perillo, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Manuel Leindekar (capt.), 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Ignacio Álvarez, 12 Joaquín Suárez, 13 Bautista Basso, 14 Tomás Etcheverry, 15 Juan González
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Mateo Sanguinetti, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Felipe Aliaga, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, 22 Ícaro Amarillo, 23 Alfonso Perillo Albarracin
The five time Rugby World Cup participants, Los Teros, have had solid preparation for the match. Peñarol’s Super Rugby Americas 2025 title saw pressure places on some regular players. Los Teros’ record-breaking win over Romania followed and a much improved performance against Argentina compared to the 20224 fixture. Paraguay has a much smaller player pool with the SRA team having a large Argentine contingent. Uruguay are favorites to win in Asunción.
Venue: Estadio Héroes de Curupayty, Asunción, PY
Date: Saturday, July 26
Kick-Off: 5:30pm (PY); 5:30pm (UY)
Weather: Light Rain. 29°C; Wind 11 km/h
Broadcast: YouTube Live Streaming
Referee: Gonzalo de Achaval (AR)
Assistant Referees: Cauã Ricardo (BR) Juan Pablo Chumbita (AR)
TMO: Lucas Galán (AR)
| vs COMPLETE RESULTS (1971-2017) |
1971 – Uruguay 56-3 Paraguay
1973 – Uruguay 31-9 Paraguay
1975 – Paraguay 18-38 Uruguay
1977 – Uruguay 16-7 Paraguay
1979 – Paraguay 9-53 Uruguay
1981 – Uruguay 54-14 Paraguay
1983 – Paraguay 12-20 Uruguay
1985 – Paraguay 9-9 Uruguay
1987 – Paraguay 12-20 Uruguay
1989 – Uruguay 32-7 Paraguay
1991 – Uruguay 29-13 Paraguay
1993 – Paraguay 3-67 Uruguay
1995 – Paraguay 12-48 Uruguay
1997- Paraguay 9-67 Uruguay
1998- Uruguay 93-3 Paraguay
2001- Uruguay 62-8 Paraguay
2002- Uruguay 81-6 Paraguay
2003 – Uruguay 53-7 Paraguay
2009- Uruguay 85-7 Paraguay
2010- Paraguay 14-47 Uruguay
2011 – Uruguay 102-6 Paraguay
2014 – Paraguay 10-34 Uruguay
2015 – Uruguay 77-3 Paraguay
2016- Paraguay 15-60 Uruguay
2017- Paraguay 19-45 Uruguay
| vs RESULTS |
0 WINS
25 WINS
1 Draw
