Andrés Vilaseca, captain of Uruguay, victorious over Namibia 36-26, in Group A of the 2023 World Cup:
“This is the first time that Uruguay approached a match as favorites. Maybe that explains our first period, but, honestly, even when we were down 14-0, no one panicked. Perhaps you saw it differently in the stands, but on the pitch, thanks to our leaders, we knew what we had to do and we rectified things in the second half. We are going to party. This is Uruguay’s 4th victory in the World Cup, it’s huge. We are going to play our last match of the World Cup against the All Blacks, who I consider to be the best team in the world. You have to take advantage of it, everyone dreams of it. We need to enjoy our last week together. We may not play a World Cup again. You have to take advantage of these moments.
On the contribution of the franchise to Uruguay: The contribution is immense, being able to benefit from 46 professional players is invaluable. Not just economically, in terms of structure and quality of training as well. The rugby landscape in South America has evolved a lot. Having this franchise, developing the VII, we are going to play the Olympic Games, all of this helps us to be where we are today.