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Diego Arbelo is now playing his rugby in Italy. The Uruguay tight head prop now plays for Colorno in the Italian Serie A Elite. He took to the field on Saturday in a 19-15 away win over Reggio Emilia.
Colorno are in a three way tie for first position after three rounds of the Serie A Elite season. Lyons and Fiamme Oro both also have 9 competition points.
There will not be a significant language barrier for Arbelo. Colorno has a heavy contingent of Argentine players. Among them are Córdoba fly half Ignacio Ceballos, Mendoza winger Agustín Travaglini, utility back Diego Antl from Mar del Plata who has played for Italy 7’s.
Colorno is also home to former Pumas scrum-half Gregorio del Prete from Mar del Plata, prop Matías Galliano from Córdoba, flanker Bautista Grenon from Santa Fé and second-rower Federico Gutiérrez from San Juan. Pictured below, Gutiérrez has played for the Argentina XV and Jaguares XV.
The 29-year-old Diego Arbelo joined Colorno following Rugby World Cup 2023. It is the second such move for an Uruguayan forward in quick time; Germán Kessler joined Soyeaux-Angloulême Charente earlier this week.
Kessler moved from Provence; thus, from one Pro D2 to another. It is his second stint at Charente. Arbelo is playing abroad for the first time. He played for Peñarol in Super Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) and Super Rugby Americas from 2020-2023.
Arbelo played in three of Uruguay’s four matches at Rugby World Cup 2023. He was a replacement against Italy. He started against New Zealand and Namibia. Uruguay’s win over Namibia was Arbelo’s second win in a Rugby World Cup.
He started in the win over Fiji at Rugby World Cup 2019. Arbelo was a replacement against Georgia and returned to start against both Australia, and Wales.
Arbelo is a product of MVCC in Montevideo. The club is the oldest in the Americas and is the world’s oldest club outside of Europe. MVCC is the 8th oldest rugby club in the world. The club also produced Diego Magno, the first Americas player to reach 100 test caps.
The first of his 21 test caps was in Asunción. Arbelo made his debut in 2016 against Paraguay. He did so as a replacement and joined Germán Kessler. The team that day also included Rugby World Cup 2023 Teros Kessler, Ignacio Dotti, Nicolás Freitas, and Facundo Gattas. Arbelo became a regular for Los Teros including in the defunct Americas Rugby Championship.
