Uruguay's party may end in tears

"The one thing I can guarantee about them is they'll never give in.

"They always play with pride - pride in their shirts and in their country.

"This game will have taken a hell of a lot out of them but I think the inspiration they can take from it might see them improve their game by 15 to 20 per cent."

They're going to have to, believes their manager Daniel Herrera, because he is convinced that England's struggles against Samoa have only nurtured the prospect of a fearful backlash.

"Two problems for us. England have been badly criticised so they will want to put in a big performance. And now, because we've beaten Georgia, they will be paying us more respect, treating us more seriously," he said.

"I hope they use the game for practice but we cannot really hope for that. We could suffer.

"Still, the most important thing was the win over Georgia, even if it makes a defeat by England much bigger. I wouldn't have swapped that win for the world."

Why? Because nights like this make it all worth it for blokes like him who have given so much of themselves to prop up a sport which few still give a fig about in their football-obsessed country, even if Uruguay's one victory over Spain in the 1999 World Cup did prompt a mini-explosion of interest.

As an outsider welcomed into what must feel like a small family business, Healy has watched these sort of personal sacrifices with utter admiration, believing this is the source of a rare spirit which England should not underestimate.

"The first time I was there, it was a shock to see the poor facilities and what these guys give up just to play rugby," recalled Healy, whose long coaching experience in Australia, France and Wales had never prepared him for anything quite like this.

"There are hardly any decent facilities and they have to train after a day's work on a field where the lights are no good.

"It's an eye-opener to see the background against which they forge these excellent performances."

Like captain Diego Aguirre, a graphic designer by day and not a bad centre by night, all but a handful of the team either work or study full-time, while there are only three full-time pros, headed by the former Bristol prop Pablo Lemoine, who, at 125kg, may be the heaviest player in the entire tournament.

"What keeps rugby in our country going is the effort we keep putting in. We have players who are working and using their own holidays just to come to the World Cup. So it's actually costing them to come here to play for their country," explained Herrera, who won't now get a holiday from his office job for two years after using up all his vacation entitlement.

Like Argentina's captain, Agustin Pichot, who had admitted he feared the sport might die in his country without more support from the IRB and individual unions, Herrera wants to see the Board help keep rugby alive in South America. "With the support we've received from the IRB, look what a good return we've given them already.

"We've qualified for two World Cups, won two games in the finals and people don't realise what an achievement it was beating this Georgian team, who everybody had thought would be too strong for us after their performance against South Africa.

"We've even beaten millionaire teams like US and Canada."

What about beating a millionaire team like England, though? Herrera just smiles.

His job as head of sales of videos and DVDs for Disney in Uruguay might equip him to recognise a good fairytale, but he accepts that even his employers wouldn't buy a screenplay quite as fanciful as that.