Uruguay will send nine players to the Major League Rugby combine in Glendale next week. Players from Brazil, Chile, and Canada will also be present for the week-long selection camp that will include a trial match for a ‘Rugby Americas XV’ against the Raptors on Saturday, October 27 at Infinity Park.
As many as a dozen were expected to represented Los Teros at the event with some development players tipped for inclusion. Instead the nine selected in the agreement between the URU and MLR are all senior internationals with only two that were not part of the 2015 World Cup squad.
Loosehead prop Mateo Sanguinetti is joined by hooker Germán Kessler, second row Diego Magno, and No8 Alejandro Nieto as forwards with World Cup experience. They are joined by outside backs Leandro Leivas, Gastón Mieres, and Rodrigo Silva. Only flanker Leandro Segredo and No8 Manuel Diana are new caps since the 2015 tournament.
Four other Teros have already landed MLR contracts – tighthead prop Juan Echeverría, second row Ignacio Dotti, midfielder Andrés Vilaseca, and scrumhalf Santiago Arata. All 13 players were part of the Uruguay ‘A’ squad in last week’s Americas Pacific Challenge.