Wales had already lost Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb from their starting XV in their final warm-up game, and now have concerns about Cory Allen, Samson Lee, Paul James, Aaron Jarvis, and Liam Williams.
They will now face England in a crunch match at Twickenham, where they will also take on Australia in their final match in Pool A.
In such a tough group, it was vital that Wales did the necessary to take the win and a crucial bonus point away from the Millennium Stadium against a potentially dangerous opponent.
"Uruguay were going to be extremely passionate," said Warburton. "It was just weathering that storm in the first 10 minutes, being accurate and being as patient as we could.
"I'm a little bit disappointed we didn't look after the ball well enough so there's a lot we can improve on.
"But the main thing was winning and getting a bonus point and we managed to do that.
"The most important thing in this group is picking up your bonus points."
Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12