Move over Luis Suarez, Uruguay has new heroes to celebrate following Rugby World Cup 2019 upset of Fiji

Fiji's centre Levani Botia (L) is is tackled by Uruguay's centre Juan Manuel Cat during the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool D match between Fiji and Uruguay at the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi. AFP

Local rugby fans wave the 'Tairyo-Bata', or good harvest flags, prior to the Rugby World Cup 2019 Group D game between Fiji and Uruguay at Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan. Getty Images

Uruguay players stand as Fiji players perform the Cibi prior to the Rugby World Cup 2019 Group D game between Fiji and Uruguay at Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan. Getty Images

Fiji's Leone Nakarawa is tackled by Uruguay's Andres Vilaseca and Santiago Civetta. Reuters

Fiji's Mesulame Dolokoto in action with Uruguay's Mateo Sanguinetti. Reuters

Mosese Voka of Fiji is tackled during the Rugby World Cup 2019 Group D game between Fiji and Uruguay at Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan. Getty Images

Japan's Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko in the stands, Fiji v Uruguay - Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi, Japan. Reuters

Fans pose for a photograph at the Fiji v Uruguay game, Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi, Japan. Reuters

Players of Fiji, in white observe a silence of one minute for the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, ahead of a Rugby World Cup Pool D match in Kamaishi, northern Japan. In the small fishing town, more than 1,000 were killed by the earthquake and tsunami. AP Photo

Juan Manuel Cat of Uruguay leans to score a try during the Rugby World Cup Pool D match between Fiji and Uruguay in Kamaishi, northern Japan. AP

Jele Vatubua of Fiji is tackled during the Rugby World Cup 2019 Group D game between Fiji and Uruguay at Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan. Getty Images

Felipe Berchesi of Uruguay scores off a penalty against Fiji during the Rugby World Cup match between Fiji and Uruguay in Kamaishi, Japan. EPA

Dominiko Waqaniburotu of Fiji is tackled by Facundo Gattas of Uruguay during the Rugby World Cup 2019 Group D game between Fiji and Uruguay at Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi, Iwate, Japan. Getty Images

Fiji's flanker Mosese Voka (C) is tackled by Uruguay's lock Ignacio Dotti (R) and Uruguay's centre Juan Manuel Cat (L) during the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool D match between Fiji and Uruguay at the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi. AFP

Fiji's Api Ratuniyarawa is tackled, Fiji v Uruguay - Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi, Japan. Reuters

Filipo Nakosi (R) of Fiji in action against Felipe Berchesi (L) of Uruguay during the Rugby World Cup match between Fiji and Uruguay in Kamaishi, Japan. EPA

Uruguay's Ignacio Dotti and Fiji's Dominiko Waqaniburotu jump in a line out, Fiji v Uruguay - Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi, Japan. REUTERS

Fiji's centre Jale Vatubua (R) is is tackled by Uruguay's centre Juan Manuel Cat during the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool D match between Fiji and Uruguay at the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi. AFP

Uruguay's Juan Manuel Cat scores their third try, Fiji v Uruguay - Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi, Japan. REUTERS

Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani, Diego Godin, have a sit down. Uruguay, the small, football-mad country in South America, has new heroes to celebrate.

Names such as Juan Manuel Gaminara, Felipe Berchesi and Juan Manuel Cat might not have been known by many within their own country before this week.

Now, they have written themselves into rugby lore after helping Uruguay to one of the biggest upsets in Rugby World Cup history, as they beat Fiji 30-27.

Just days earlier, Fiji had pushed the two-time World Cup winners Australia in a thrilling opening to their World Cup.

Had a few questionable officiating decisions gone their way then, we might have been celebrating them as the real giant-killers of this week.

And then, this. Beaten by a country with barely 6,000 registered rugby players. A tiny union that - outside of World Cups – is seldom afforded matches against rugby’s leading teams, and who only started awarding professional contracts as a consequence of making it to the last World Cup.

Gaminara, their captain, personifies the challenge that faced them. The 30-year-old flanker from Old Boys, the champion club side of Montevideo, is 1.75m tall.

He was giving away 21cms in height, as well as years’ worth of experience in the professional game to his opposite number, Dominiko Waqaniburotu, the Fiji captain and flanker who has spent the past seven years playing in France’s Top 14.

And yet Gaminara’s industry and craft epitomised the Uruguayan effort. When it came to his post-match TV interview, it was little wonder he was in tears.

“I am really proud of my country,” Gaminara said. “We are not the biggest, we are not the tallest, but we came here to win.

“We have been preparing for this for four years. I am really proud of my country.

“We have been working for this since we qualified. We never had anything granted.

"We had to qualify first, then come to the World Cup, and since we qualified, we have been thinking about this game.

“You saw the passion. I am really proud.”

Usually, underdog stories are universally celebrated. While few would begrudge Uruguay this moment, it will be tinged with sorrow for many.

Fiji are, after all, most people’s favourite second side. They are more normally the poster-boys for the underdog cause.

Quoting mismatches like the one between Gaminara and Waqaniburotu is usually an easy trope to set up the mismatch facing Fiji, rather than the other way round.

As Andrew Mehrtens put it on commentary, the Flying Fijians are “the darlings of the rugby field, almost always – but they have been usurped”.

“Everything went wrong, it was not the result we wanted,” Waqaniburotu said in his TV interview.

“We underestimated a very good Uruguay team. Congratulations to them.”

Uruguay had only 41 per cent of both territory and possession, but they were good value for their win.

Their defence was courageous, and forced many of the mistakes the Fijians made, while they used the possession they did have with a savvy that belied their lack of experience.

Berchesi, their fly-half, was named player of the match for a nerveless display with the boot that brought him 15 points.

“I think we showed we are a really proud nation,” Berchesi said. “We worked together as a team.

“I think they [Fiji] had really good individuality, but we played together as a team, and I am really proud of the boys.

“I was telling myself [when lining up the kick that eventually decided the game] to treat it like it was training, like the stadium was empty.

“I had cramp in my legs. I was just thinking of training: look to the posts, look through the middle, and it went through, luckily.”