Uruguay national rugby union team

Uruguay

Nickname	Los Teros
Emblem	Southern lapwing
Union	Uruguayan Rugby Union
Head coach	Esteban Meneses
Captain	Juan Manuel Gaminara
Most caps	Diego Magno (92)
Top scorer	Felipe Berchesi (317)
Top try scorer	Diego Ormaechea (33)
Home stadium	Estadio Charrúa
First colours Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	18 (as of 23 November 2020)
Highest	14 (2005)
Lowest	23 (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
Appearances	4 (First in 1999)
Best result	Pool stage, 1999, 2003, 2015 and 2019
Website	www.uru.org.uy

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 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

Main article: Rugby union in Uruguay

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, 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.

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.

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.

Record

Overall record

Men's World Rugby Rankings

Top 30 as of 9 December 2024

Rank	Change	Team	Points
1		South Africa	092.78
2		Ireland	090.78
3		New Zealand	090.36
4		France	088.51
5		Argentina	084.97
6		Scotland	083.34
7		England	082.31
8		Australia	081.52
9		Fiji	080.07
10		Italy	078.64
11		Wales	074.01
12		Georgia	073.85
13		Japan	072.95
14		Samoa	072.68
15		United States	070.02
16		Portugal	068.82
17		Uruguay	067.06
18		Spain	065.98
19		Tonga	065.46
20		Romania	063.01
21		Chile	061.72
22		Hong Kong	059.49
23		Canada	059.18
24		Netherlands	058.56
25		Russia	058.06
26		Namibia	057.87
27		Zimbabwe	057.16
28		Brazil	056.53
29		Belgium	056.51
30		Switzerland	056.04

Uruguay's historical rankings

See or edit source data.

Source: World Rugby
Graph updated to 9 December 2024

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

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.

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Argentina	42	0	42	0	0.00%	434	1744	−1310
Argentina XV	12	3	9	0	40.00%	174	505	−331
Argentina Jaguars	2	0	2	0	0.00%	40	101	−61
Australia	1	0	1	0	0.00%	10	110	−100
Belgium	1	1	0	0	100.00%	39	13	+26
Brazil	27	25	2	0	92.59%	962	201	+671
Canada	13	5	8	0	33.33%	232	370	−141
Chile	52	40	11	1	77.88%	1281	788	+493
Emerging Ireland	3	0	3	0	0.00%	43	126	−83
Emerging Italy	4	2	2	0	50.00%	90	89	+1
England	2	0	2	0	0.00%	16	171	−155
Fiji	4	1	3	0	25.00%	76	181	−105
Fiji XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	3	24	−21
Fiji Warriors	3	1	2	0	33.33%	73	82	−9
France XV	2	0	2	0	0.00%	6	95	−89
Georgia	6	2	4	0	33.3%	86	141	−55
Germany	1	0	1	0	0.00%	21	24	−3
Hong Kong	1	1	0	0	100.00%	28	3	+25
Italy	3	0	3	0	0.00%	25	92	−67
Japan	3	1	2	0	33.33%	32	88	−56
Kazakhstan	1	1	0	0	100.00%	44	7	+37
Morocco	2	1	1	0	50.00%	36	24	+12
Namibia	4	3	1	0	75.00%	142	112	+30
New Zealand XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	3	64	−61
Paraguay	26	25	0	1	96.15%	1322	238	+1084
Peru	1	1	0	0	100.00%	10	6	+4
Portugal	10	7	3	0	70.00%	234	142	+92
Romania	9	1	7	1	11.11%	85	226	−141
Russia	9	5	4	0	55.55%	231	215	+16
Samoa	1	0	1	0	0.00%	13	60	−47
Scotland	1	0	1	0	0.00%	12	43	−31
Scotland A	1	0	1	0	0.00%	3	27	−24
South Africa	3	0	3	0	0.00%	12	245	−233
South Africa President's XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	9	37	−28
Spain	12	6	6	0	50.00%	232	197	+35
United States	19	3	15	1	18.42%	317	591	−274
Venezuela	1	1	0	0	100.00%	92	8	+84
Wales	2	0	2	0	0.00%	22	89	−67
Total	284	136	148	4	47.54%	6453	7226	−773

World Cup record

Main article: Uruguay at the Rugby World Cup

World Cup record									World Cup Qualification record
Year	Finished	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	Pts F	Pts A		P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Not invited								—
1991	Did not enter								Did not enter
1995	Did not qualify								3	2	0	1	91	28
1999	Pool Stage	3	1	0	2	42	97		9	6	0	3	209	188
2003	Pool Stage	4	1	0	3	56	255		6	3	0	3	115	144
2007	Did not qualify								6	2	0	4	86	140
2011									6	3	1	2	194	107
2015	Pool Stage	4	0	0	4	30	226		8	6	1	1	239	146
2019	Pool Stage	4	1	0	3	60	140		8	8	0	0	318	160
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.

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	%
1	Diego Magno	Flanker	2008-	92	61	31	55	11	45	45	2	50.00
2	Leandro Leivas	Wing	2008-	76	63	13	120	24	32	42	2	43.42
	Mario Sagario	Prop	2006-2019	76	53	23	5	1	32	42	2	43.42
4	Gaston Mieres	Fullback	2010-	72	62	10	65	13	39	31	2	54.92
5	Juan Manuel Gaminara	Flanker	2010-	71	66	5	35	7	34	35	2	49.29
	Alejandro Nieto	Number 8	2012-	71	62	9	35	7	40	30	1	57.04
7	Carlos Arboleya	Hooker	2004-2018	67	39	28	25	5	29	37	1	44.02
	Rodrigo Sanchez	Prop	1996-2009	67	58	9	25	5	26	41	0	38.80
9	Mateo Sanguinetti	Prop	2014-	66	53	13	15	3	35	31	0	53.03
10	Rodrigo Silva	Fullback	2012-	63	57	6	84	13	35	28	0	54.83

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

Most tries

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Start	Sub	Pts	Tries
1	Diego Ormaechea	Number 8	1979-1999	54	51	3	151	33
2	Leandro Leivas	Wing	2008-	76	63	13	120	24
3	Santiago Arata	Scrum-half	2016-	43	27	16	70	14
	German Kessler	Hooker	2015-	53	38	15	70	14
	Federico Sciarra	Scrum-half	1990-1999	40	38	2	272	14
	Andres Vilaseca	Wing	2013-	61	58	3	90	14
7	Alfonso Cardoso	Centre	1995-2003	38	35	3	67	13
	Gaston Mieres	Fullback	2010-	72	62	10	65	13
	Rodrigo Silva	Fullback	2012-	63	57	6	84	13
10	Federico Favaro	Wing	2013-	33	26	7	174	11
	Diego Magno	Flanker	2008-	92	61	31	55	11

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
1	Felipe Berchesi	Fly-half	2011-	36	317	2	44	72	1
2	Federico Sciarra	Scrum-half	1990-1999	40	272	14	36	44	1
3	Juan Menchaca	Fullback	1998-2007	39	254	6	28	51	5
4	Jerónimo Etcheverry	Fly-half	2008-2016	45	213	8	37	30	3
5	Mathias Arocena	Fly-half	2005-2014	36	204	8	25	37	1
6	Marcelo Nicola	Fly-half	1989-1995	22	178	10	36	20	0
7	Federico Favaro	Wing	2013-	33	174	11	34	17	0
8	Jorge Zerbino	Flanker	1973-1985	26	153	7	19	29	0
9	Diego Ormaechea	Number 8	1979-1999	54	151	33	0	0	0
10	Agustín Ormaechea	Scrum-half	2011-	49	150	7	20	25	0

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
1	Juan Manuel Gaminara	Flanker	2016-2019	40	27	13	0	67.50	20	4
2	Diego Ormaechea	Number 8	1985-1999	36	20	16	0	55.55	109	23
3	Jorge Zerbino	Flanker	1975–1985	20	12	6	2	65.00	120	7
4	Diego Aguirre	Fly-half	2002-2003	16	6	10	0	37.50	21	1
5	Nicolás Klappenbach	Hooker	2005-2015	15	8	7	0	53.33	0	0

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

Notable Players

• Diego Aguirre
• Rodrigo Capo Ortega
• Alfonso Cardoso
• Alejo Corral
• Diego Lamelas
• Juan Menchaca
• Diego Ormaechea
• Pablo Lemoine
• Juan Campomar
• Joaquin Pastore

See also

• Rugby union in Uruguay
• Campeonato Uruguayo de Rugby – Club Championship of Uruguay

External links

• Teros XV – Official Site
• Uruguay – Rugbydata.com
• Uruguay Official Matches