Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Rodrigo Capó Ortega has been named to captain Castres tomorrow in what is his 400th match for the club. The Uruguayan is into his 18th year playing for the Top 14 club.
Castres will face the Worcester Warriors on Saturday in a European Challenge Cup match. It will see Capó Ortega joined by Argentina’s Benjamín Urdapilleta, and Canada’s Taylor Paris. The trio have all been named the start the match.
The 38-year-old Capó Ortega is a two-time Top 14 champion. This officially makes him the most successful Uruguayan player in history and the length of his time at Castres makes it irrefutable. He joined the club in 2002 to become one of the all-time great import players.
In 2003 Capó Ortega played for Uruguay at the Rugby World Cup. He played in all four of Los Teros’ matches, doing so against England, Georgia, Samoa, and South Africa. He would score against Samoa, and tackle ferociously in the win over Georgia.
He would go on to be the national captain, leading Los Teros in the RWC 2007 qualifiers. Uruguay would miss out by 1 point on aggregate to Portugal after second-rower Juan Carlos Bado had been red carded in the home match.
After an extended absence he returned to represent his country in the RWC 2015 qualifiers, proving a key player in the repechage series triumph over Russia. He again returned for the RWC 2019 qualifiers, helping Uruguay overcome Canada home-and-away to qualify as Americas 2 for the first time in history.
In not being fit for the pre-season training with Los Teros, Capó Ortega ruled himself out of playing in RWC 2019. In the tournament Uruguay completed a historic win over Fiji and were also demonstrably improved against powerhouses Australia, and Wales.
