DAVID SHAPSHAK, Johannesburg | Wednesday 2.00pm
URUGUAY are South Africa’s final opponent in the pool stage of the Rugby World Cup.
The Springboks, who also play Scotland and Spain in the initial round, will Uruguay, the Repechage 2 winners, on October 15 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Although losing to Morocco 21 – 18 in Casablanca over the weekend Uruguay qualified for the tournament due to a better for and against record. They won the first match of the Repechage 2 play off series 18 – 3 in Montevideo on April 18.
Springbok coach Nick Mallett said he was looking forward to meeting the Uruguayans.
“I haven’t seen much of them play, but from all reports they have a solid pack of forwards who have a lot of experience,” said Mallett.
“South American teams have always been competitive in the scrum and I don’t expect the Uruguayans to be any different. They lost 21-16 to the USA during the Qualifiers so they are obviously not to be taken lightly.”
“It’s also good we finally know who we are up against. There was tremendous confusion over just who our final opponents in the Group stages would be. I’m just glad it’s finally settled.”
Nineteen of the 20 Rugby World Cup finalists have now been decided with the final place to be allocated after Tonga meet Korea in Seoul on May 4 in the second match of the Repechage 1 series.
Tonga currently lead the series after winning the first match 58 – 26 in Nuku’alofa. The winner will qualify for Group B of the RWC and face Italy, New Zealand and England.
South Africa’s other pool matches in the RWC 1999 are against Scotland on October 3 and against Spain on October 10, both in Edinburgh.