Uruguay national rugby union team

The Uruguay national rugby union team (Spanish: Selección nacional de rugby de Uruguay) represents Uruguay in men's international rugby union nicknamed Los Teros, is governed by the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay. One of the older test sides in the world, Uruguay has qualified four times for the Rugby World Cup, in 1999, 2003, 2015 and most recently 2019. As of 10 June 2019 they are ranked 17th in the world, and are ranked 3rd in the Americas region, behind rivals Argentina and the United States.

Uruguay
Nickname(s)Los Teros
EmblemSouthern lapwing
UnionUruguayan Rugby Union
Head coachEsteban Meneses
CaptainJuan Manuel Gaminara
Most capsDiego Magno (92)
Top scorerFelipe Berchesi (317)
Top try scorerDiego Ormaechea (33)
Home stadiumEstadio Charrúa
First colours
Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current18 (as of 23 November 2020)
Highest14 (2005)
Lowest23 (2012)
First international
Uruguay 3–21 Chile
(Buenos Aires, Argentina; 5 August 1948)
Biggest win
Uruguay 102–6 Paraguay
(Puerto Iguazú, Argentina; 15 May 2011)
Biggest defeat
South Africa 134–3 Uruguay
(East London, South Africa; 11 June 2005)
World Cup
Appearances4 (First in 1999)
Best resultPool stage, 1999, 2003, 2015 and 2019
Websitewww.uru.org.uy

Uruguay has consistently been one of the better fringe international sides in rugby union, having consistently beaten Tier 2/3 competition from across the globe. Uruguay won the South American Rugby Championship in 1981, the only time (pre-2014) that a team other than Argentina won the tournament. They came second on 19 occasions and third the remaining 9. As of 2012, Uruguay has been classified as a Tier 2 nation, which allows them to receive more funding from World Rugby.

Their home stadium is Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo and holds up to 14,000 people. Estadio Domingo Burgueño has also been used for some fixtures in the Americas Rugby Championship.

The nickname Los Teros refers to the national bird of Uruguay, the southern lapwing.

History

1900s – 1960s

Uruguay v. Chile in the 1951 South American championship held in Buenos Aires

Rugby union has been played on Uruguayan soil as possibly as early as the 19th century, with reports of rugby football being played as early as 1865,[1] though the origins of rugby in Uruguay remain controversial. Regardless of whom played the first rugby match in Uruguay, it is clear that rugby was introduced in Uruguay by British immigrants in the 19th century, with the game being more popularized by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, who were of Irish origin. Because of this, Uruguay has one of the oldest rugby cultures outside the British Isles, and one of the most established in the South America.

Uruguay made their official international debut in 1948, in a game against Chile, which Uruguay lost 21–3. Following their debut match, they returned to competition in the Pan American Games, first against the more experienced Argentina, resulting in a 0–62 loss. Uruguay then faced Chile for the second time, defeating them by 8–3. The final match of the competition was a 17–10 win over Brazil. Uruguay thus became runners up in the first unofficial South American Rugby Championship.

Uruguay, after a four years hiatus, played Chile in 1956, who defeated them by 6–3. In 1958, they played for the first official South American Rugby Championship, in a pool of three countries. They first played Chile, this time losing by 9–34. The Teros met again Argentina, having another loss, this time by 3–50. Uruguay managed to defeat Peru (10–6) in the last game.

In 1960, Uruguay faced for the first time one of the powers of the Northern Hemisphere rugby, France XV, losing by 0–59 in Montevideo during a South American tour. Uruguay after this match entered their second South American Rugby Championship. They first won against Brazil in a close game (11–8), then losing to Chile (5–28) and Argentina (3–36) in the closest result to then between both countries.

1970s – 1980s

The 1970s started off with a win over Paraguay in 1971, which was followed by a win and loss against Chile and a win against Brazil. They also played Argentina twice in the 1970s. However, they won all their matches except for those against Argentina, as well as losing one game against Chile and drawing another. However, the next game against Argentina, two years later in 1979, Uruguay came close to defeating the Pumas, going down by just three points, the final score being 19 to 16.

The 1980s started off with a 54 to 14 win over Paraguay, which resulted in a winning streak that was stopped by Argentina in 1983. In 1985, France visited Montevideo for a second time to play the Teros, beating the locals 34–6. Another short undefeated streak occurred over 1987/1989, which was broken by a 19 to 17 loss against Chile. This was followed by a sound loss to Argentina and loss to a new opponent, the United States Eagles.

1990s

The southern lapwing, emblem of the Uruguayan National Rugby Team

The 1990s started off with wins against of Chile, Brazil and Paraguay. This was followed by more wins over their traditional opponents, though Uruguay still lost to Argentina, they also played Canada in a competitive 28–9 loss in 1995. Uruguay played some of the bigger nations such as Argentina, Canada and the United States, although the Canada and U.S. games were a lot closer than some of their previous encounters.

A huge success for them was qualifying for the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. They won their pool fixture against Spain, Uruguay finished third in their pool.

2000–present

2015 Rugby World Cup repechage qualifier match between Uruguay and Russia

Uruguay came within 10 points of Argentina in 2001, and also played nations such as Italy in the same year. Uruguay won most of their matches against their traditional Americas opponents in the early 2000s. Later in 2002, Uruguay defeated Canada, winning 25–23. They followed this up with a 10–9 win over the United States. They again qualified for the 2003 World Cup. They won their pool fixture against Georgia 24–12.

Uruguay's qualification for the 2007 World Cup started in Americas Round 3a, where they were grouped with Argentina and Chile. After losing their first match 26–0 to Argentina, they defeated Chile 43–15 in Montevideo, which saw them enter Round 4. In round 4 they faced the United States, and Uruguay lost on aggregate, and moved onto the repechage round as Americas 4. Uruguay played Portugal in the repechage over two legs — losing the first in Lisbon and winning the second in Montevideo — but lost on aggregate points and failed to qualify.

Uruguay lost the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualification. Uruguay had won the 2009 South American Rugby Championship "A" by defeating Brazil and Chile at the Estadio Charrúa. Uruguay then lost to the United States 22–27 and 6–27. In the repechage, Uruguay defeated Kazakhstan 44–7, but in the battle for the 20th and final spot at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Uruguay tied Romania at home 21–21 and lost 12–32 in Bucharest.

During the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying, Uruguay won the 2013 South American Rugby Championship "A", getting wins at the Estadio Charrúa against Brazil (58–7) and Chile (23–9). In March 2014, Uruguay faced the United States in a NACRA-CONSUR playoff for the last Americas qualification spot. Uruguay tied the home leg 27–27, but lost the away leg 32–13. Uruguay then moved to the repechage, where it defeated Hong Kong 28–3 at the Estadio Charrúa, to face Russia for the 20th and final spot at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Uruguay qualified for the 2015 Rugby World Cup by defeating Russia by an aggregate score of 57–49 in the two-game series, winning the second game at home 36–27 in front of 14,000 fans at the Charrua Stadium.[2]

Uruguay claimed three wins and two losses at the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship, but ranked fourth out of six because they only scored two bonus points. In 2017 the team also claimed three wins and two losses, finishing third. On 3 February 2018, Los Teros qualified for 2019 Rugby World Cup as Americas 2 after beating Canada in the home-away leg, and started it with a surprising 30-27 win over Fiji on 25 September, it was Uruguay’s first World Cup win in 16 years.[3][4]

On 30 October 2019, nightclub in southwestern Japan filed criminal complaint against players from the Uruguay team for 2019 Rugby World Cup for allegedly damaging property.[5]

Record

Overall record

Men's World Rugby Rankings
Top 30 rankings as of 13 January 2021[6]
RankChange*TeamPoints
1  South Africa094.20
2  England089.49
3  New Zealand088.95
4  France085.30
5  Ireland084.65
6  Australia083.08
7  Scotland080.82
8  Argentina080.31
9  Wales079.36
10  Japan079.29
11  Fiji076.87
12  Georgia072.18
13  Tonga071.44
14  Italy070.88
15  Samoa070.72
16  United States068.10
17  Spain067.51
18  Uruguay067.02
19  Romania065.33
20  Portugal062.12
21  Russia061.96
22  Hong Kong061.23
23  Canada061.11
24  Namibia061.04
25  Netherlands060.09
26  Brazil058.19
27  Belgium057.17
28   Switzerland054.12
29  Chile053.81
30  Germany053.13
*Change from the previous week
Uruguay's historical rankings

See or edit raw graph data.

Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 16 November 2020[6]

Up until the 4 December 2012, Uruguay has won 81 of their 175 matches played, a win percentage of 46.29%.[7]

Uruguay has lost all official matches versus Argentina, but has a positive record versus their other South American rivals: Chile, Paraguay and Brazil.

Regarding tier 2 teams, Uruguay has positive records with Namibia, Portugal and Russia, neutral records with Spain, and negative records with United States, Canada, Japan, Georgia, Romania and Fiji.

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Uruguay national XV at test level up until 20 August 2019.[8]

Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn Win % For Aga Diff
 Argentina4204200.00%4341744−1310
 Argentina XV1239040.00%174505−331
 Argentina Jaguars20200.00%40101−61
 Australia10100.00%10110−100
 Belgium1100100.00%3913+26
 Brazil27252092.59%962201+671
 Canada1358033.33%232370−141
 Chile524011177.88%1281788+493
Emerging Ireland30300.00%43126−83
 Emerging Italy422050.00%9089+1
 England20200.00%16171−155
 Fiji413025.00%76181−105
 Fiji XV10100.00%324−21
 Fiji Warriors312033.33%7382−9
 France XV20200.00%695−89
 Georgia624033.3%86141−55
 Germany10100.00%2124−3
 Hong Kong1100100.00%283+25
 Italy30300.00%2592−67
 Japan312033.33%3288−56
 Kazakhstan1100100.00%447+37
 Morocco211050.00%3624+12
 Namibia431075.00%142112+30
 New Zealand XV10100.00%364−61
 Paraguay26250196.15%1322238+1084
 Peru1100100.00%106+4
 Portugal1073070.00%234142+92
 Romania917111.11%85226−141
 Russia954055.55%231215+16
 Samoa10100.00%1360−47
 Scotland10100.00%1243−31
 Scotland A10100.00%327−24
 South Africa30300.00%12245−233
South Africa President's XV10100.00%937−28
 Spain1266050.00%232197+35
 United States19315118.42%317591−274
 Venezuela1100100.00%928+84
 Wales20200.00%2289−67
Total284136148447.54%64537226−773

World Cup record

World Cup record World Cup Qualification record
Year Finished Played Won Drew Lost Pts F Pts A P W D L F A
1987Not invited
1991Did not enterDid not enter
1995Did not qualify32019128
1999Pool Stage310242979603209188
2003Pool Stage4103562556303115144
2007Did not qualify620486140
20116312194107
2015Pool Stage4004302268611239146
2019Pool Stage4103601408800318160
Total 4/7 15 3 0 12 188 718 46 30 2 14 1252 913

Current squad

On 30 August, Uruguay named their 31-man squad for the tournament on 30 August 2019.[9]

Head Coach: Esteban Meneses

  • Caps updated: 13 October 2019
Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province
Facundo Gattas Hooker (1995-07-02) 2 July 1995 33 Peñarol Rugby
Germán Kessler Hooker (1994-07-01) 1 July 1994 52 Charente
Guillermo Pujadas Hooker (1997-02-06) 6 February 1997 12 Peñarol Rugby
Diego Arbelo Prop (1992-07-26) 26 July 1992 9 Peñarol Rugby
Juan Echeverría Prop (1991-10-09) 9 October 1991 54 Peñarol Rugby
Joaquín Jaunsolo Prop (1998-09-12) 12 September 1998 2 Peñarol Rugby
Juan Rombys Prop (1987-03-05) 5 March 1987 34 Trébol de Paysandú
Mateo Sanguinetti Prop (1992-07-26) 26 July 1992 66 Massy
Ignacio Dotti Lock (1994-08-18) 18 August 1994 50 New Orleans Gold
Manuel Leindekar Lock (1997-04-23) 23 April 1997 18 Oyonnax
Diego Magno Lock (1989-04-27) 27 April 1989 92 Houston SaberCats
Manuel Diana Back row (1996-03-04) 4 March 1996 25 Toronto Arrows
Santiago Civetta Back row (1998-02-28) 28 February 1998 8 Peñarol Rugby
Franco Lamanna Back row (1991-10-05) 5 October 1991 46 Mogliano Rugby
Manuel Ardao Back row (1998-09-09) 9 September 1998 6 Peñarol Rugby
Juan Manuel Gaminara (c) Back row (1989-05-01) 1 May 1989 71 Old Boys
Alejandro Nieto Back row (1988-01-07) 7 January 1988 71 Peñarol Rugby
Juan Diego Ormaechea Back row (1989-01-28) 28 January 1989 34 Carrasco Polo
Leandro Segredo Back row (1995-06-05) 5 June 1995 9 Peñarol Rugby
Santiago Arata Scrum-half (1996-09-02) 2 September 1996 43 Castres Olympique
Agustín Ormaechea Scrum-half (1991-03-08) 8 March 1991 49 Stade Niçois
Felipe Berchesi Fly-half (1991-04-12) 12 April 1991 36 Dax
Juan Manuel Cat Fly-half (1996-09-06) 6 September 1996 34 Peñarol Rugby
Agustín Della Corte Centre (1997-09-11) 11 September 1997 9 Peñarol Rugby
Nicolás Freitas Centre (1993-07-03) 3 July 1993 38 Peñarol Rugby
Tomás Inciarte Centre (1996-10-22) 22 October 1996 17 Peñarol Rugby
Andrés Vilaseca Centre (1991-05-08) 8 May 1991 59 Peñarol Rugby
Federico Favaro Wing (1991-05-19) 19 May 1991 31 Peñarol Rugby
Leandro Leivas Wing (1988-07-06) 6 July 1988 76 Toronto Arrows
Rodrigo Silva Wing (1992-11-02) 2 November 1992 61 Peñarol Rugby
Felipe Echeverry Fullback (1996-06-23) 23 June 1996 4 Peñarol Rugby
Gastón Mieres Fullback (1989-10-05) 5 October 1989 70 Toronto Arrows

Individual all-time records

Most matches

# Player Pos Tenure Mat Start Sub Pts Tries Won Lost Draw %
1Diego MagnoFlanker2008-92613155114545250.00
2Leandro LeivasWing2008-766313120243242243.42
Mario SagarioProp2006-2019765323513242243.42
4Gaston MieresFullback2010-72621065133931254.92
5Juan Manuel GaminaraFlanker2010-716653573435249.29
Alejandro NietoNumber 82012-716293574030157.04
7Carlos ArboleyaHooker2004-20186739282552937144.02
Rodrigo SanchezProp1996-2009675892552641038.80
9Mateo SanguinettiProp2014-6653131533531053.03
10Rodrigo SilvaFullback2012-6357684133528054.83

Last updated: Uruguay vs Spain, 6 November 2020. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most tries

# Player Pos Span Mat Start Sub Pts Tries
1Diego OrmaecheaNumber 81979-19995451315133
2Leandro LeivasWing2008-76631312024
3Santiago ArataScrum-half2016-4327167014
German KesslerHooker2015-5338157014
Federico SciarraScrum-half1990-19994038227214
Andres VilasecaWing2013-615839014
7Alfonso CardosoCentre1995-2003383536713
Gaston MieresFullback2010-7262106513
Rodrigo SilvaFullback2012-635768413
10Federico FavaroWing2013-3326717411
Diego MagnoFlanker2008-9261315511

Last updated: Uruguay vs Spain, 6 November 2020. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most points

# Player Pos Span Mat Pts Tries Conv Pens Drop
1Felipe BerchesiFly-half2011-36317244721
2Federico SciarraScrum-half1990-1999402721436441
3Juan MenchacaFullback1998-200739254628515
4Jerónimo EtcheverryFly-half2008-201645213837303
5Mathias ArocenaFly-half2005-201436204825371
6Marcelo NicolaFly-half1989-1995221781036200
7Federico FavaroWing2013-331741134170
8Jorge ZerbinoFlanker1973-198526153719290
9Diego OrmaecheaNumber 81979-19995415133000
10Agustín OrmaecheaScrum-half2011-49150720250

Last updated: Uruguay vs Spain, 6 November 2020. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most matches as captain

# Player Pos Span Mat Won Lost Draw % Pts Tries
1Juan Manuel GaminaraFlanker2016-2019402713067.50204
2Diego OrmaecheaNumber 81985-1999362016055.5510923
3Jorge ZerbinoFlanker1975–198520126265.001207
4Diego AguirreFly-half2002-200316610037.50211
5Nicolás KlappenbachHooker2005-20151587053.3300

Last updated: Uruguay vs Spain, 6 November 2020. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Notable Players

See also

References

  1. Richards, p54, Chapter 2 Practising the Games of the Anglo-Saxon...
  2. "Uruguay qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015" Archived 2014-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, IRB.com, 11 October 2014.
  3. "Uruguay shock Fiji in World Cup thriller to pull off historic victory". Guardian. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  4. "Uruguay pull off massive shock with World Cup win over Fiji". The 42. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  5. "Rugby: Nightclub files criminal complaint against Uruguay players". Kyodo News. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  6. "Men's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  7. "Statistics for Men's International Rugby Union — Uruguay". Rugbydata.com. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  8. Uruguay rugby statistics
  9. "Los Teros name squad for Japan 2019". rugbyworldcup.com. Rugby World Cup. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
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