Colombia national rugby union team

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Colombia

Union

Federación Colombiana de Rugby





Team colours

First international

Mexico 10 - 10 Colombia
(1996-01-08)

Largest win

Costa Rica 5 - 42 Colombia
(2006-10-18)

Worst defeat

Brazil 74 - 0 Colombia
(2004-10-13)

The Colombia national rugby union team represents Colombia in the sport of rugby union. The team are grouped as a tier three nation by the International Rugby Board (IRB). They have thus far not qualified for a Rugby World Cup, but have participated in qualifying tournaments. Colombia made their debut against Mexico in 1996.

1 History
2 World Cup record
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Colombia attempted to qualify for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, participating in the Americas qualifying tournaments during November of 2001. They contested matches in the Round 1 (South) group, against nations including Brazil, Venezuela and Peru. However they made their exit during Round 1 after finishing fourth in the final standings.

Colombia were involved in qualifying for the World Cup (France 2007) in 2004 when they contested Round 1b (CONSUR 2nd division). They finished fourth in the final standings which knocked them out of contention, though their fixtures against Peru and Venezuela were close, losing 15-10 and 27-31 respectively.

In Colombia, the rugby face a big fight against the low support from the government and the football tradition in the country overwhelms the other sports. Also the lack of support from the local and national media.

The Colombian Rugby Team goes by the name of Tucanes.

Since the first Origins of rugby in Colombia in 1986, rugby has grown specially in the begining of the 90's when the sport was not only being played by French and British expats but also by Locals. In Bogota rugby was pushed by a few players Alfonso Castafaletti and Hywel Jones in the early ninties and then in early 2000's Andrew Wright, Nick Reeves y Andres Tejada who is currently coaching the Team with Juan Roman. Colombian Rugby players need to get more experience from the rugby world and good money from sponsors to be able to go to the 2011 RWC in New Zealand.