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Guillermo Pujadas is Chicago bound. Days after the Chicago Hounds confirmed the signing of Uruguayan tight head prop Ignacio Péculo, the club has added further Uruguayan beef. Pujadas and Péculo join the Chicago Hounds from Peñarol for Major League Rugby (MLR) 2024.
Pujadas will now join fellow Uruguayan hooker Facundo Gattas in the MLR. Gattas recently signed a new deal to remain with Old Glory DC. Pujadas and Gattas featured for Uruguay at Rugby World Cup 2023 as two of the three hookers. The other was regular starter Germán Kessler who plays his rugby in France.
Pujadas will be taking plenty of experience with him to the Windy City. The 26-year-old made his test debut for Uruguay against Fiji in 2018. Rugby World Cup 2023 was his second World Cup and he has 32 caps to his name.
Pujadas went through the Uruguayan High Performance system. He played for Uruguay u20’s before being selected for the test team. He went from playing at Rugby World Cup 2019 to being a permanent member of Peñarol. Indeed, Super Rugby Americas 2024 will be Peñarol’s first campaign without Pujadas.
Pujadas is a native of Montevideo and a product of the Champagnat club. He is not alone in moving from the Rio de la Plata to the MLR; in fact, Pujadas is the eighth Uruguayan from the Super Rugby Americas 2023 champions to depart Peñarol.
The Peñarol player exodus will mean a lot of new names will take to the field for the team in 2024. This will benefit the next generation of potential Teros players. For Pujadas it is a first opportunity of playing professional rugby abroad.
Pujadas was in the thick of the action for Los Teros at Rugby World Cup 2023. He started for Uruguay against France in Lille, and was a replacement against Italy in Nice, against Namibia in Lyon and against New Zealand also in Lyon.
