Twelve Milestone Months for Uruguay

A year ago to this day Uruguay played their first Rugby World Cup match in twelve years. Los Teros made their England 2015 debut appearance against Wales a Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. The match was the accomplishment of hard work in which an uphill battle was conquered.

For Uruguay getting to the World Cup was their equivalent of Argentina getting to the Semi Finals or New Zealand winning the tournament. It was that big of a deal. Huge obstacles needed to be overcome. They included, among others, a predominantly amateur player roster, relative isolation in South America, a low budget, no direct regional qualification and repechage against a team in a far better position.

Uruguay’s path ultimately led to a World Cup final place play-off against Russia. The home and away series was won 57-49 by the South Americans on aggregate. A similar feat will be required for Uruguay to play in Rugby World Cup 2019 but this time around the team and players will be insurmountably better prepared.

Personal Changes
Competing in a Rugby World Cup is make or break, literally.A failure to qualify means a vastly lower budget as World Rugby funding will be directed elsewhere. Uruguay knows this all to well.

Having reached Rugby World Cup 2015 Uruguay showed that they have genuine potential to grow. While Los Teros were unable to win a match they lost by a vastly lower margin against England than was the case in 2003. They also had a solid start against Wales and scored two quality tries against Fiji.

In layman’s terms Uruguay exited 2015 with more than just a pass mark. The URU knew that quick action was required to convince World Rugby of their value for the next World Cup cycle. This saw the union laying out a clear path to become a Tier 2 nation. This included the appointment of a new Head Coach and High Performance Director.

Having coached Los Teros to the World Cup Pablo Lemoine stepped down to take on a new role. He became the new Director of High Performance. The Head Coach position went to Esteban Meneses. The Argentine signed a two-year deal and came at the recommendation of many including Daniel Hourcade.

Americas Rugby Championship
Meneses’ appointment took place on Christmas eve. This gave him six weeks to prepare for the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship. A tough opener against Canada saw Los Teros conceeding three first half tries. They fought back but fell 33-17.

A narrow 33-29 win over Brazil followed in round two. It was a frustrating performance in São Paulo but, ultimately, a win was scared. The following weekend Uruguay led the Argentina XV for much of the match before going down 24-21.

The unlucky loss in Punta del Este would go on to cost Uruguay. In beating Chile 23-20 and the USA 29-25 in rounds five and six Uruguay finished fourth. With 14 competition points they finished just one behind both Canada and the USA.

The Americas Rugby Championship was welcomed by all six participants. The competition is a genuine longterm viable path to both development and to financial success. For Uruguay it meant they would play far more often than in previous years.

Nations Cup
The Americas Rugby Championship and Uruguay’s participation in Rugby World Cup 2015 truly changed Los Teros’ landscape. They would again play in the Nations Cup in Romania in June. Before that Los Teros would play in the South American Championship in April and May.

Strong performances against saw Uruguay undefeated against Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. The margins were notably larger than in the Americas Rugby Championship.

In Bucharest Uruguay achieved mixed results. A strong start had Uruguay close to defeating Emerging Italy. The non-capped match was followed by a 40-0 hammering against the host nation in a match which had to abandoned and played the following day. But in defeating Spain 16-0 in the final match the Nations Cup was a success for Los Teros.

Americas Pacific Challenge
The URU’s progress saw World Rugby giving them the green light to host a new tournament. Dubbed the Americas Pacific Challenge the competition will bring together the senior ‘A’ teams of six Rugby World Cup 2015 competitors.

The Argentina XV, Canada ‘A’ and the USA Selects will all compete as will the Fiji Warriors and Samoa ‘A’. What this essentially means is the best local based players from the six sides will have a change at pressing for test duty in November.

Uruguay’s involvement and hosting status is a significant sign of approval from World Rugby. It may yet be followed by the hosting of additional competitions. One of them being the World Rugby Junior World Trophy. Uruguay has openly expressed a desire to host it in 2017.

November Internationals
The six countries who will play in Montevideo will all play test rugby in November. The annual tour matches in Europe are a vital part of the calendar for all. Uruguay has frustratingly been left in the dark every year.

Never having the same kind of schedule as Canada, Romania or Samoa Los Teros have been often left to play just one test match. Many years they have, in fact, played none. This all changes in 2016. Uruguay’s progression has seen a first-ever three-match tour of Europe as part of the November Internationals.

Los Teros will play on consecutive Saturday’s. The match dates of November 12, 19 and 26 will see away test matches against Germany, Spain and Romania. It is nothing short of a dream come trie for Uruguay’s rugby administration and players.

Clubs and Argentina
The path to Tier 2 status is also very much connected to the Big Brother. Uruguay’s extremely healthy relationship with Argentina at all levels is a vital component towards growth. Earlier this year Montevideo clubs Old Christians and Old Boys played in the second division of the Campeonato Argentino Interior.

At the representative level the Uruguay XV are also afforded the opportunity of competing in Argentina. As was the case in 2015 Uruguay’s ‘A’ side will again be a part in Argentina’s National Provincial Championship. The 2016 Campeonato Argentino de Mayores will involve Uruguay again. Also competing, albeit in a lower division, will be Paraguay.