Wyles, Bosch, Figallo Join Americas List of European Champions

Today’s European Rugby Champions Cup Final in Lyon, France saw the addition of three more players from the new world to the list of winners. Chris Wyles, Marcelo Bosch and Juan Figallo joined the Americas List of European Champions.

The three players are all from vastly different locations and their arrival as European Champions is each worth a story of their own.

Wyles
Born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1983 Chris Wyles moved to the U.K. as an eleven year old. He attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College in Hertfordshire, a school famous for sporting excellence. His Saracens teammate Jamie George is another graduate are are former internationals including David Cooke and Guy Evers.

After High School Wyles would go on to study Politics at the University of Nottingham and begin his professional rugby career playing for Nottingham in England’s second division. He subsequently played for the Northampton Saints before playing Rugby Sevens and senior rugby for the USA, impressing at Rugby World Cup 2007 in France.

He joined Saracens in 2008 and has amassed more than 200 appearances. During his eight years he has played in four Aviva Premiership Finals, winning twice. His victory in Lyon saw his second European final and first victory. It brought to an end a seventeen year wait by an Eagle to conquer Europe.

Bosch
Marcelo Bosh joined Wyles at Saracens in 2013, doing so from Biarritz whom he joined in 2006 as a young and promising fly half. Injury impacted Bosch’s career which saw him sitting out the 2010 European Champions Cup Final against Toulouse through injury.

Having overcome both shoulder and knee reconstruction surgeries, Bosch began Argentina’s starting outside center, making the position his own in 2011. His performances earned accolades and a move to England where he played in the Aviva Premiership final in his first season and is now a European Champion.

Upon joining Biarritz Bosch was uncapped but spotted for his potential following a strong showing in non-capped international fixtures. These included the 2005 World Rugby under 21 World Championship in Mendoza and both Pumas 7’s and Argentina XV selection in 2006. His club, Belgrano Athletic is one of Buenos Aires’ finest with Lisandro Arbizu, Tomás Cubelli and Santiago García Botta also coming through the club system.

Figallo
From Argentina’s northern province of Salta, Juan Figallo is a post-2007 product of the nationwide PladAR High Performance program. Like Bosch he was signed to play in France before having made his test match debut.

Having toured with Argentina in 2008 but receiving no game time Figallo joined Montpellier in 2009 as a potential future version of Rugby World Cup 2007 hero tighthead props Omar Hasan and Martín Scelzo. At Montpellier he became a regular in quick time but was used predominantly as a loosehead prop.

In his second season he left a lasting impression. Starting at loosehead he was a vital part of the team that marched into an unlikely final, ultimately losing against Toulouse. From there he would start ahead of Scelzo for Argentina and was named the best player from Pool B, a group made up of powerful scrummaging teams – Argentina, England, Georgia, Romania and Scotland.

Playing in the Rugby Championship in 2013, Figallo went down with a serious injury. By law he was unable to continue playing under contract in the Top 14. An offer resulted from Saracens whom he joined in 2014 and would win the Aviva Premiership with in May 2015. One year on he is now also a European Champions with the club.

The trio of Wyles, Bosch and Figallo were also joined in the Champions Cup Final by two additional Pumas. Juan Imhoff played left wing and Manuel Carizza was Racing 92’s replacement second-rower. Not involved were two USA Eagles at Saracens – Titi Lamositele and Hayden Smith. Their places as European Champions will have to wait for the time being though Lamositele was a replacement in Saracens’ Quarter Final win over Northampton and Semi Final win over the Wasps.

Europe’s second string club competition, the Challenge Cup has also had a number of winners from the Americas. The latest to do so is English international Marland Yarde who is from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia. Yards moved to the U.K. at the age of nine.

The success of Saracens in Lyon enables the three names to be added to the overall winners list. Now standing at fifteen the list is a strong indication of the excellence produced past and present by the Americas.

Player	Country	Club	Year
Dan Lyle	USA	Bath	1999
Federico Mendez	Argentina	Bath	1999
Federico Mendez	Argentina	Northampton Saints	2000
Martín Scelzo	Argentina	Northampton Saints	2000
Winston Stanley	Canada	Leicester Tigers	2001
Omar Hasan	Argentina	Toulouse	2005
Federico Pucciariello	Argentina	Munster	2006
Felipe Contepomi	Argentina	Leinster	2009*
Patricio Albacete	Argentina	Toulouse	2010
Alberto Basualdo	Argentina	Toulouse	2010
Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe	Argentina	Toulon	2013, 2014, 2015
Martín Castrogiovanni	Argentina	Toulon	2014
Juan Martín Hernández	Argentina	Toulon	2015
Marcelo Bosch	Argentina	Saracens	2016
Juan Figallo	Argentina	Saracens	2016
Chris Wyles	USA	Saracens	2016

* Contepomi suffered a cruciate ligament injury to his knee in defeating Munster in the 2009 Semi Final.