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Mateo Sanguinetti has opted not to join the Houston SaberCats for the 2020 Major League Rugby season notes Ignacio Chans. Uruguay’s starting loosehead prop at the World Cup will instead stay in Montevideo and play for Peñarol in the new Súper Liga. The new South American professional league is set to kick off in February.
It leaves Houston with only one of the four Teros internationals who played for them in 2019. Star scrumhalf Santiago Arata has also chosen Peñarol, with No8 Alejandro Nieto accepting a player-coach role with the new franchise. Only utility forward Diego Magno will stay for a second season with the SaberCats.
In order to fill the gap, and the departure of starting hooker Pat O’Toole, Houston have entered negotiations with a pair of Argentina XV forwards. Loosehead prop Nicolás Solveyra and hooker Diego Fortuny are set to follow NOLA signing Julián Domínguez to MLR having turned down offers to play in the Súper Liga.
Solveyra, 24, has played for the Argentina XV since 2016 and was part of the Jaguares XV in the Currie Cup though has yet to receive a call-up to the Jaguares. Fortuny has one Super Rugby appearance as a replacement and also a test appearance against South Africa in 2018. The 28-year-old captained the Sudamérica XV against Chile and Paraguay last year.
Also opting out of MLR for 2020 is Uruguayan inside center Andrés Vilaseca. He was a key player for Austin last season, but the team has secured a replacement in former Eagles midfielder Roland Suniula. Better news for the Herd is that tighthead prop Juan Echeverría and utility back Rodrigo Silva will be heading back to Texas.
