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Rodrigo Capó Ortega has officially retired from rugby. The legendary Uruguayan international was to play out the current season with Castres Olympique, but with the remainder of the Top 14 schedule cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic it means the 39-year-old’s career has come to an end.
Hailing from Montevideo, Capó Ortega played for Carrasco Polo and made his test debut against Chile in November 2000. After three Campeonato Uruguayo titles he signed for Castres in 2002. Remarkably he has stayed with the club ever since, playing more than 400 games across all competitions. He won two Top 14 titles, first in 2013 and then a second as captain in 2018.
Though primarily a lock it was at No8 where Capó Ortega would play during the 2003 Rugby World Cup, scoring a try against Samoa. He would be a fixture in the back row for Los Teros through the end of the decade when his international career ground to a virtual halt.
Despite being Uruguay’s best player Capó Ortega would not play another test until the Rugby World Cup qualifiers in 2014. He then missed out on both the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, the former for family reasons and the latter due to injury. Two caps in the victorious Americas 2 qualifying series against Canada in 2018 would end his career on 41 caps.
