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Rugby World Cup 2023 will feature players from Super Rugby Americas 2023. The South American professional league proved to be a critical component in seeing a record three South American countries secure places at a Rugby World Cup for the first time.
Rosters from all three South American participants at this year’s Rugby World Cup played in Super Rugby Americas 2023 or in prior editions of the tournament when it was played as the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR).
Click here to read Los Cóndores’ roster for the World Cup.
Click here to read Los Teros’ roster for the World Cup.
Click here to read Los Pumas’ roster for the World Cup.
CHILE / SELKNAM
Chile’s roster is not quite yet complete. Pablo Lemoine named 30 players that he will take to the World Cup. The three remaining places are currently being finalized. The Chile XV is playing the South American Four Nations in Paraguay. That competition will conclude on Sunday and with it the final three roster members will be named.
27 of the 30 players featured for Selknam in Super Rugby Americas 2023. The three who did not are captain and flanker Martín Sigren, tight head prop Matías Dittus and fullback Iñaki Ayarza. However, both Sigren and Dittus played for Selknam in prior editions of SLAR.
Chile’s roster evidently goes hand-in-hand with the move to High Performance. Selknam and Chile are a model which others seeking to emerge as future World Cup debutants would gain greatly from studying closely. Factor in that every player on Chile’s roster is homegrown, that is to say no player went through a different country’s system and is eligible because of ancestry nor did any player move to Chile to qualify as an adult.
Front-rowers Javier Carrasco, Salvador Lues, Augusto Bohme, Tomás Dussaillant, Diego Escobar, Iñaki Gurruchaga and Esteban Inostroza played for Selknam in Super Rugby Americas 2023. All four second-rowers did too. They are Javier Eissmann, Pablo Huete, Santiago Pedrero, and Augusto Sarmiento. Back-rowers Alfonso Escobar, Raimundo Martínez, Clemente Saavedra, and Ignacio Silva played for Selknam in 2023.
Scrum-halves Lukas Carvallo, Marcelo Torrealba and Benjamín Videla were involved with Selknam this year as were fly halves Rodrigo Fernández and Santiago Videla; centers Pablo Casas, Matías Garafulic, José Ignacio Larenas, and Domingo Saavedra; and back-three players Nicolás Garafulic, Franco Velarde, and Francisco Urroz.
Uruguayan Juan Andrés Zuccarino played for Selknam in SLAR 2022. He played for Peñarol in 2023 and was a regular at inside center and had game-time at fly half. He featured for Los Teros in the Rugby World Cup warm-up matches but missed out on the final roster for the World Cup.
URUGUAY / PENAROL
Peñarol is the center of Uruguay’s continued evolution. Uruguay’s defeat against Romania in the Rugby World Cup 2011 repechage was the catalyst for change. Uruguay took a look at itself and concluded that we will never play in another World Cup without changing our model. Uruguay’s progress has been constant ever since.
The combination of High Performance with Peñarol has significantly boosted the level of the home-based players. Factor in to this that Uruguay had a sprinkling of professionals at Rugby World Cup 2015 and an increase for 2019. The 2023 roster is 100% professional.
High Performance has included more than just a bridge from of players from amateur clubs to professional rugby; it has also seen players returning from North America and Europe. Prop Mateo Sanguinetti, second-rower Ignacio Dotti and N8 Manuel Diana are examples. Another factor in play is Los Teros 7’s. Uruguay ensured more opportunities for more players by having a full-time sevens program alongside Super Rugby Americas 2023.
Peñarol’s 2023 roster included World Cup props Matías Benítez, Mateo Sanguinetti, Diego Arbelo Ignacio Peculo and Reinaldo Piussi. Hooker Guillermo Pujadas featured too as did second-rowers Felipe Aliaga and Ignacio Dotti.
The team was captained by Manuel Ardao in 2023. He will continue his career at the Miami Sharks in Major League Rugby. Fellow back-rowers Lucas Bianchi, Carlos Deus, Eric Dosantos, Manuel Diana, and Juan Manuel Rodríguez also all played for Peñarol in 2023. Uruguayan vice-captain Santiago Civetta sat out the campaign injured.
Uruguay’s World Cup back stocks are also highly tied to Peñarol. Scrum-half Santiago Álvarez and fly half Felipe Etcheverry both played for Peñarol. Etcheverry will join the Miami Sharks in 2024 as will center Tomás Inciarte who was a regular in 2023. Felipe Arcos Pérez went from Peñarol to 7’s in 2023 while former captain Andrés Vilaseca and vice-captain Nicolás Freitas both played for Vannes in the Pro D2.
All but one of the remaining backs also all played for Peñarol at some point in 2020-2023. They are Juan Manuel Alonso, Bautista Basso, Gastón Mieres, Baltazar Amaya, and Rodrigo Silva. The exception is Ignacio Facciolo who played for Los Teros 7’s in 2023 and made a massive impact on his test debut in the Rugby World Cup 2023 warm-ups.
COM SABOR DE PORTUGAL
Peñarol’s 2020 roster contained two Portuguese players. Portuguese backs Jerónimo Portela and Raffaele Storti were recruited by Peñarol for the inaugural season. Their involvement did not lsat long as the season ended prematurely due to the pandemic.
ARGENTINA / CEIBOS / JAGUARES XV / PAMPAS / DOGOS
No players from Argentina’s too teams in Super Rugby Americas 2023 made the roster for the World Cup. However, players from prior campaigns did. Argentina’s team in SLAR 2020 was Ceibos. In 2021-2022 it was Los Jaguares XV and in 2023 the country had Pampas in Buenos Aires and Dogos in Córdoba.
The 34th Puma on the roster, Tomás Albornoz played for Los Ceibos in 2020. He also played for Los Jaguares in 2022 before moving to Italy to join Benetton. He was briefly joined by Santiago Chocobares and Joel Sclavi in 2021. Both players were signed by Top 14 clubs in early 2021. They have won titles for Toulouse and La Rochelle respectively.
Chocobares and Sclavi are on Argentina’s roster for the World Cup. Two additional names from Los Jaguares XV 2021 are Ignacio Ruiz and Juan Martín González. They are also both on the World Cup roster. Moreover, like Chocobares and Sclavi they also both moved to Europe for elite clubs.
Ruiz moved to Europe later than they other three. He played for Los Jaguares XV again in SLAR 2022. Two of his teammates from that campaign join him on the World Cup roster. They are second-rower Pedro Rubiolo and fullback Martín Bogado. They both now play for elite clubs abroad.
Six became eight with injury changes to the roster in the week before the World Cup. Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro was replaced by Mayco Vivas and Joaquín Oviedo replaced Santiago Grondona. Vivas featured in SLAR 2022 and Oviedo in SLAR 2021. They subsequently moved to Gloucester and Perpignan respectively.
PARAGUAY / OLÍMPIA LIONS / YACARE
Paraguay has competed with one team in each edition of the South American professional league. In 2020-2022 the team competed as the Olímpia Lions. The connection to the soccer club ended and saw Paraguay’s team in Super Rugby 2023 taking to the field as Yacare.
Paraguay has never competed at a Rugby World Cup. The move to professionalism is part of a long-term goal of changing this. The team has had fewer foreign players each year. The first-ever Olímpia Lions SLAR match saw no Paraguayans in the XV.
FROM AFRICA TO ASUNCIÓN
Two Namibians were on the Olímpia Lions roster for SLAR 2020. Both of them are also on Namibia’s roster for Rugby World Cup 2023. Flanker Max Katjijeko and scrum-half Damian Stevens will play for Namibia at the World Cup after also playing in South America in World Cup Warm-Up matches.
Before playing for Los Jaguares XV, Martín Bogado played for the Olímpia Lions. He did so in SLAR 2021. From there he played for Los Jaguares XV in SLAR 2022, Bayonne in 2022 and the Highlanders in 2023. He made his test debut against South Africa in 2023.
USA / RAPTORS
The three other past or present SLAR / Super Rugby Americas teams do not have players who will compete at Rugby World Cup 2023. Diego Magno was surprisingly left out of Uruguay’s roster. The 105 time capped Tero played for Peñarol in 2022 and the American Raptors in 2023. Juan Echeverría joined him at the Raptors.
BRAZIL / CORINTHIANS / COBRAS
Brazil’s SLAR team in 2020 was soccer giant Corinthians. This changed to Os Cobras for subsequent seasons. Os Cobras is the backbone of Brazil’s test team. By design, Os Cobras restricts imports to boost opportunities for Brazilian players and Brazilian-eligibile players. No player to have played for Corinthians or Os Cobras will compete at the World Cup.
COLOMBIA / CAFETEROS PRO
Colombia had a team in SLAR 2021 and 2022. Los Cafeteros Pro were competitive in 2022 after a long and unsuccessful inaugural season. No player from the Colombian franchise will take to the fields of France for the World Cup.
The loss of the team has brought with it consequences for Los Tucanes. Colombia’s test team has fallen significantly as noted by 2022 and 2023 performances compared to 2018-2021.
