Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
RWC 2023 will be the first Rugby World Cup to feature three South American competitors. Argentina have played in every Rugby World Cup. RWC 2023 will be Uruguay’s fifth and Chile’s first. The players are all South Americans and the rosters are all homegrown.
This article documents the players who will represent Argentina, Chile and Uruguay at Rugby World Cup 2023. All three countries have rosters of thirty-three players. The individual places of birth and clubs of origin are listed as are caps.
WORLD CUP ROSTERS – AMERICAS
ARGENTINA – LOS PUMAS
Argentina’s roster is notably different to that of Los Pumas de Bronze. The 2007 roster which reached the Semi Finals and finished third contained 30 players. 26 of the 30 players were from Buenos Aires. The roster for RWC 2023 is very different with Buenos Aires now only slight ahead of Córdoba.
Eight of the thirty-three players were born in the Buenos Aires district capital. They are joined by three others born in other parts of Buenos Aires province: Joel Sclavi from Mar del Plata, Rodrigo Bruni from Tandil and Lucio Cinti from La Plata.
In some instances the home club is different to the city of birth. For instance, Pablo Matera is from Alumni club in Buenos Aires but was actually born in Mendoza. Similarly, Mateo Carreras is a Tucumano born in Córdoba.
Argentina’s third largest city is Rosario. It has contributed three players to the World Cup. The trio are all products of the same club – Duendes. They have all played in prior Rugby World Cups and are well-known throughout the rugby world. They are Emiliano Bofelli, Jerónimo de la Fuente and Juan Imhoff.
Martín Bogado is from Posadas, the capital of Misiones province. The city borders Encarnación, Paraguay across the Paraguay river. Marcos Kremer is from Concórdia which borders Salto, Uruguay across the Uruguay river.
Santiago Chocobares is from the small town of Rufino. In terms of place of birth, Rufino is the only city with a population of under 100,000 represented on Argentina’s roster. Rafaela is the second smallest with 109,000. Pedro Rubiolo and Mayco Vivas are from the city in Santa Fé province.
| PLAYER | BORN | HOME CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| Thomas Gallo | Tucumán | Universitario | LH | 17 |
| Mayco Vivas | Rafaela | Círculo Rafaelino | LH | 18 |
| Agustín Creevy | Buenos Aires | San Luis | HK | 101 |
| Julián Montoya | Buenos Aires | Newman | HK | 89 |
| Ignacio Ruiz | Buenos Aires | Regatas Bella Vista | HK | 6 |
| Eduardo Bello | Córdoba | San Martín de Villa María | TH | 14 |
| Francisco Gómez Kodela | Buenos Aires | Belgrano | TH | 31 |
| Joel Sclavi | Mar del Plata | Pueyrredón | TH | 12 |
| Matías Alemanno | Córdoba | La Tablada | LO | 86 |
| Tomás Lavanini | Buenos Aires | Hindú | LO | 82 |
| Guido Petti | Buenos Aires | San Isidro | LO | 75 |
| Juan Martín González | Mendoza | Marista | FL | 24 |
| Facundo Isa | Santiago del Estero | Lawn Tennis | FL | 47 |
| Marcos Kremer | Concórdia | Salto Grande | FL | 57 |
| Joaquín Oviedo | Córdoba | Córdoba Athletic | FL | 1 |
| Pablo Matera | Mendoza | Alumni | FL | 95 |
| Pedro Rubiolo | Rafaela | Círculo Rafaelino | FL | 5 |
| Rodrigo Bruni | Tandil | Uncas | N8 | 21 |
| Lautaro Bazán Vélez | Córdoba | Córdoba Athletic | SH | 7 |
| Gonzalo Bertranou | Mendoza | Los Tordos | SH | 53 |
| Tomás Cubelli | Buenos Aires | Belgrano | SH | 89 |
| Santiago Carreras | Córdoba | Córdoba Athletic | FH | 35 |
| Nicolás Sánchez | Tucumán | Lawn Tennis | FH | 98 |
| Santiago Chocobares | Rufino | Pampas de Rufino | CE | 8 |
| Lucio Cinti | La Plata | La Plata RC | CE | 16 |
| Jerónimo de la Fuente | Rosario | Duendes | CE | 76 |
| Matías Moroni | Buenos Aires | CUBA | CE | 74 |
| Emiliano Boffelli | Rosario | Duendes | WI | 53 |
| Mateo Carreras | Córdoba | Los Tarcos | WI | 11 |
| Juan Imhoff | Rosario | Duendes | WI | 43 |
| Rodrigo Isgró | Mendoza | Mendoza RC | WI | 2 |
| Martín Bogado | Posadas | Centro de Cazadores | FB | 2 |
| Juan Cruz Mallía | Córdoba | Jockey | FB | 25 |
CHILE – LOS CÓNDORES
Clubs from Chilean capital of Santiago are responsible for the production of the majority of players. These include the two Chilean players who were born abroad. Both Salvador Lues and Matías Garafulic are from COBS, Craighouse Old Boys in the Lo Barnechea commune in Santiago.
Prominent Santiago clubs COBS, Old Boys, Old Redlanders, Prince of Wales Country Club (PWCC), and Universidad Católica are heavily represented. COBS is home to two sets of brothers on the roster: Matías and Nicolás Garafulic and Alfonso and Diego Escobar. COBS has seven players on Los Cóndores 33-man roster.
Chile’s four sets of brothers is the most ever on any Rugby World Cup roster. In addition to the Garafulic and Escobar brothers the roster also contains Benjamín and Santiago Videla and the twin brothers Clemente Saavedra and Domingo Saavedra. These four players are from the Old Boys club.
Three others are from Old Boys. These are captain Martín Sigren, veteran second-rower Pablo Huete and scrum-half Marcelo Torrealba. The three players have all previously played abroad as professional players. Sigren played this past season for the Doncaster Knights in England’s second division. Torrealba previously played Major League Rugby for Austin Gilgronis while Huete played for Castres, Pau, Massy, Bayonne and Charente in France and for Tasman Mako in New Zealand.
Players not from Santiago came through rugby clubs on the coastal city of Viña del Mar, the southern city of Concepción and the northern city of Antofagasta. This represents a near 2000km distance from Concepción in the South to Antofagasta in the North. This is not disimilar to the distance from Los Angeles to Vancouver. In short, a lot of Chile will be represented directly on the field.
| PLAYER | BORN | HOME CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| Javier Carrasco | Santiago | Old Redlanders | LH | 19 |
| Vittorio Lastra | Viña del Mar | Old Macks | LH | 22 |
| Salvador Lues | Lima, Peru | COBS | HK | 11 |
| Augusto Bohme | Santiago | Universidad Católica | HK | 22 |
| Tomás Dussaillant | Santiago | Old Boys | HK | 37 |
| Diego Escobar | Santiago | COBS | TH | 5 |
| Matías Dittus | Santiago | Universidad Católica | TH | 21 |
| Iñaki Gurruchaga | Concepción | Old Johns Concepción | TH | 11 |
| Esteban Inostroza | Santiago | PWCC | LO | 1 |
| Javier Eissmann | Santiago | Universidad Católica | LO | 21 |
| Pablo Huete | Santiago | Old Boys | LO | 30 |
| Santiago Pedrero | Santiago | COBS | LO | 6 |
| Augusto Sarmiento | Santiago | PWCC | LO | 15 |
| Alfonso Escobar | Santiago | COBS | FL | 18 |
| Raimundo Martínez | Santiago | PWCC | FL | 10 |
| Thomas Orchard | Antofagasta | Old Lions | FL | 12 |
| Clemente Saavedra | Santiago | Old Boys | FL | 20 |
| Martín Sigren | Santiago | Old Boys | FL | 27 |
| Ignacio Silva | Santiago | PWCC | FL | 38 |
| Lukas Carvallo | Santiago | PWCC | SH | 6 |
| Nicolás Herreros | Viña del Mar | Sporting | SH | 5 |
| Marcelo Torrealba | Santiago | Old Boys | SH | 12 |
| Benjamín Videla | Santiago | Old Boys | SH | – |
| Rodrigo Fernández | Santiago | COBS | FH | 23 |
| Santiago Videla | Santiago | Old Boys | FH | 25 |
| Pablo Casas | Santiago | PWCC | CE | 15 |
| Matías Garafulic | São Paulo, Brazil | COBS | CE | 12 |
| José Ignacio Larenas | Santiago | Universidad Católica | CE | 47 |
| Domingo Saavedra | Santiago | Old Boys | CE | 24 |
| Franco Velarde | Viña del Mar | Viña RC | WI | 16 |
| Cristóbal Game | Concepción | Old Johns | WI | 1 |
| Iñaki Ayarza | Santiago | PWCC | FB | 14 |
| Francisco Urroz | Santiago | Old Redlanders | FB | 11 |
* Nicolás Garafulic was ruled out of the World Cup on September 08. He was replaced by Cristóbal Game Jiménez.
URUGUAY – LOS TEROS
Uruguay’s roster is dominated by players from Montevideo clubs. This has been the standard of Los Teros’ rosters from prior Rugby World Cups. The capital has been the heart beat of Uruguayan rugby and is home to the oldest rugby club outside of Europe – Montevideo Cricket Club (MVCC).
MVCC was also the first Americas club to produce a player to reach 100 test caps for a country from the Americas. Diego Magno has 105 caps, four more than Puma Agustín Creevy. Granted, Argentine born, raised and homegrown players Sergio Parisse and Martín Castrogiovanni earned more for Italy.
While Magno missed out on a spot on the roster, Diego Arbelo and Juan Manuel Alonso will continue the tradition for MVCC at Rugby World Cup 2023. Champagnat also produced two RWC 2023 Teros, Matías Benítez and Guillermo Pujadas and are ahead of Los Ceibos and Círculo de Tenis with one Term each.
Four other Montevideo clubs are strongly represented on the roster. Old Christians have five players and Los Cuervos four. They are nonetheless dwarfed by Carrasco Polo and Old Boys which each have seven players. Old Boys is again home to the captain. In 2015 it was Santiago Vilaseca, 2019 Juan Manuel Gaminara and Andrés Vilaseca has led Los Teros since 2000.
Carrasco Polo and Old Boys combine to make up 42% of the 33-man roster. Old Boys is home to the one player born abroad. Fullback Baltazar Amaya moved to Uruguay from Argentina at the age of 8.
Players come from three Uruguayan cities other than Montevideo. Tight head Reinaldo Piussi is from Dolores in the west. N8 Juan Manuel Rodríguez is from Salto. The city is located across the Uruguay river from Marcos Kremer’s home town of Concórdia. Rodríguez learned his rugby at the Trébol de Paysandú club.
Lastly, three players come from Los Lobos. The rugby club is located in the tourist destination of Punta del Este in Maldonado department. They are flanker Eric Dosantos, hooker Facundo Gattas and winger Gastón Mieres.
| PLAYER | BORN | HOME CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| Mateo Sanguinetti | Montevideo | Los Cuervos | LH | 80 |
| Matías Benítez | Montevideo | Champagnat | LH | 45 |
| Facundo Gattas | Maldonado | Los Lobos | HK | 39 |
| Germán Kessler | Montevideo | Los Cuervos | HK/LH | 62 |
| Guillermo Pujadas | Montevideo | Champagnat | HK | 28 |
| Diego Arbelo | Montevideo | MVCC | TH | 18 |
| Ignacio Péculo | Montevideo | Old Christians | TH | 13 |
| Reinaldo Piussi | Dolores | Dolores | TH | 4 |
| Felipe Aliaga | Montevideo | Los Ceibos | LO | 5 |
| Ignacio Dotti | Montevideo | Los Cuervos | LO | 59 |
| Manuel Leindekar | Montevideo | Old Boys | LO | 28 |
| Manuel Ardao | Montevideo | Old Christians | FL | 23 |
| Lucas Bianchi | Montevideo | Los Cuervos | FL | 10 |
| Santiago Civetta | Montevideo | Old Boys | FL | 26 |
| Juan Manuel Rodríguez | Salto | Trébol de Paysandú | FL/N8 | 3 |
| Eric Dosantos | Maldonado | Los Lobos | FL | 16 |
| Carlos Deus | Montevideo | Old Boys | FL/LO | 3 |
| Manuel Diana | Montevideo | Old Christians | N8 | 38 |
| Santiago Álvarez | Montvideo | Carrasco Polo | SH | 7 |
| Santiago Arata | Montevideo | Old Christians | SH | 45 |
| Agustín Ormaechea | Montevideo | Carrasco Polo | SH | 56 |
| Felipe Berchesi | Montevideo | Carrasco Polo | FH | 45 |
| Felipe Etcheverry | Montevideo | Carrasco Polo | FH | 20 |
| Felipe Arcos Pérez | Montevideo | Old Boys | CE | 9 |
| Nicolás Freitas | Montevideo | Carrasco Polo | WI/CE | 50 |
| Tomás Inciarte | Montevideo | Old Christians | CE/SH | 32 |
| Andrés Vilaseca | Montevideo | Old Boys | CE | 75 |
| Juan Manuel Alonso | Montevideo | MVCC | WI | 8 |
| Bautista Basso | Montevideo | Old Boys | WI | 4 |
| Ignacio Facciolo | Montevideo | Círculo de Tenis | WI | 1 |
| Gastón Mieres | Maldonado | Los Lobos | WI/FB | 82 |
| Baltazar Amaya | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Old Boys | FB/WI | 8 |
| Rodrigo Silva | Montevideo | Carrasco Polo | FB | 77 |
