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Saturday will be the last time Gastón Mieres plays for Uruguay. Mieres will hang up his boots after a lengthily test career for his country. Mieres will earn his 86th cap for Los Teros in Saturday’s test match against Romania in Bucharest. Retirement comes for the Teros winger / fullback at the age of 35.
Mieres has been through the thick and thin for Uruguay. For a decade and a half he has been involved in representing his country. Mieres made his test debut in 2010 against Brazil. The year 2010 was critical to Uruguayan rugby. The loss against Romania in repechage ended their World Cup dream. The URU responded by taking-action to rebuild rugby and get back to the World Cup.
Uruguay debuted at Rugby World Cup 1999 with a win over Spain. Four years later Los Teros defeated Georgia in Australia 2003. What appeared to be a successful structure proved otherwise; however, as Portugal eliminated Uruguay at the final hurdle for Rugby World Cup 2007 and Romania did the same for Rugby World Cup 2011.
Mieres’ test debut came with the realization that change was essential. The rest, as they say, is history. Mieres helped Uruguay fight back. Los Teros earned a spot at Rugby World Cup 2015. The prize was the pool of death against Australia, England, Fiji and Wales. Uruguay even had the task of facing Wales in Wales and England in England. Mieres ranked as third for off-loads in the tournament with seven.
Uruguay and Mieres were back again for Rugby World Cup 2019. This time the South Americans had adequate preparation time and set-forth on having a High Performance operation. The outcome was unprecedented success with Uruguay shocking many by defeating Fiji at the World Cup and vast improvements against both Australia and Wales.
A mature Uruguay was back for Rugby World Cup 2023. Los Teros pushed both France and Italy in their pool matches before claiming a win over Namibia. The tournament concluded for Uruguay with a defeat against New Zealand.
Mieres took on the best teams in the world in three Rugby World Cups. It was a highly noteworthy career for the player who began playing rugby as a young boy in his home town of Punta del Este. He is a product of the Lobos club.
His career took him to Italy, England and Canada. Mieres played for Rugby Club Valpolicella in Italy’s Serie A. He played for Coventry in England, for the Toronto Arrows in Canada’s, now defunct, Major League Rugby (MLR) franchise. He also played Super Rugby Americas for Peñarol.
