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The Uruguay national rugby union team ( Spanish: '' Selección de rugby de Uruguay'') represents
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
in men's international
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
nicknamed ''Los Teros'', is governed by the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay. One of the older test sides in the world, Uruguay has qualified five times for the
Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...
, in 1999, 2003, 2015, 2019 and most recently 2023. 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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. 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 World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...
. Their home stadium is Estadio Charrúa in
Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern c ...
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

Rugby union has been played on Uruguayan soil as possibly as early as the 19th century, with reports of
rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. T ...
being played as early as 1865,Richards, p54, Chapter 2 ''Practising the Games of the Anglo-Saxon...'' 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
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, who were of Irish origin. Because of this, Uruguay has one of the oldest rugby cultures outside the
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, and one of the most established in the South America. Uruguay made their official international debut in 1948, in a game against
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, which Uruguay lost 21–3. Following their debut match, they returned to competition in the
Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
, first against the more experienced
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, 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 Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. 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
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(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 0–61 in
Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern c ...
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 Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
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 Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
, 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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
Eagles.


1990s

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
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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 The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...
in
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. They won their pool fixture against Spain, Uruguay finished third in their pool.


2000–present

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
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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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
, 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 The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...
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
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the team also claimed three wins and two losses, finishing third. On 3 February 2018, ''Los Teros'' qualified for
2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...
as Americas 2 after beating Canada in the home-away leg, and started it with a surprising 30-27 win over
Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
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. In 2021, Uruguay qualified for the
2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the cou ...
as Americas 1, after a 1-1 series draw with the
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They lost the first game 19-16, but won the second game 34-15. They won on aggregate points (50-34) and are in Pool A with
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, France, Italy and Africa 1.


Record


Overall record

Uruguay has lost all official matches versus Argentina, but has a winning record versus their other South American rivals such as Chile, Paraguay and Brazil. Regarding tier 2 teams, Uruguay has positive records with Namibia, Spain, Portugal and Russia, 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 17 July 2022.


World Cup record


Current squad

On 25 October, Uruguay named a 30-man traveling squad for their European tour matches against
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
and
Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
.Los Teros squad named for European tour
/ref> Head Coach: Esteban Meneses * Caps Updated: 19 November 2022


Individual all-time records


Most matches

Last updated: Tonga vs Uruguay, 19 November 2022. Statistics include officially capped matches only.


Most tries

Last updated: Tonga vs Uruguay, 19 November 2022. Statistics include officially capped matches only.


Most points

Last updated: Tonga vs Uruguay, 19 November 2022. Statistics include officially capped matches only.


Most matches as captain

Last updated: Tonga vs Uruguay, 19 November 2022. 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 Pablo Adrian Lemoine (born 1 March 1975 in Montevideo) is a former Uruguayan rugby union player and former head coach of the Uruguayan national rugby team and German national team. He is now the head coach of the Chile national team. Playing ca ...
* Juan Campomar * Joaquin Pastore


Past Coaches

''Since the
1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...
''


See also

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


References


External links


Teros XV
– Official Site
Uruguay
– Rugbydata.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uruguay National Rugby Union Team South American national rugby union teams