The Wallabies, who have made 14 changes from the team that beat Fiji 28-13 in their Pool A opener, will be content with a good match for their reserves, a bonus point they will surely get and a good rest for the big game against hosts England at Twickenham next Saturday.
Australia hold the record for the biggest World Cup winning margin having crushed Namibia 142-0 in 2003 but they hardly expect to emulate that at Villa Park or even England's 111-13 win over Uruguay the same year.
“We’re anxious to play, it’s the match we’ve dreamed all our lives of playing. We’ve got to try to enjoy every moment,” Uruguay scrumhalf Agustin Ormaechea said on Saturday.
“We’ve been preparing our defensive system and also our physical fitness to be up to it. Every time we have the ball we’re going to attack ... to test ourselves because we’re facing the best in the world.”
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Ormaechea’s father Diego, the oldest player ever at a World Cup aged 40 in 1999 when Uruguay got their first victory by beating Spain 27-15, had words of advice for his son.
“He told me to enjoy myself and that there are lots of people who would love to be in my shoes and on the pitch and in this World Cup atmosphere,” said the 24-year-old.
Size alone gives Australia an advantage of 10 kilos per man over the Uruguayans, the lightest team in the tournament, going into their first ever meeting.
The gap between the leading nations and the smaller few who sneak into the tournament from the outer reaches of the game has narrowed but is still wide as shown by Uruguay’s opening 54-9 loss to Wales.
The Teros, though, are a proud team revelling in their right to have qualified by taking the last berth available in a tight playoff against Russia and have made progress under coach Pablo Lemoine, a former prop with Stade Francais.
“It was a very long road to get here, we had to play lots of matches to obtain the last place at the World Cup,” flyhalf Felipe Berchesi said.
“We played the United States, Spain, Hong Kong, Russia. We did a good job against Wales but we can’t stop there, we have to advance and be up to it.”
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
