| Union | Unión de Rugby del Uruguay | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Teros | ||
| Emblem(s) | Southern Lapwing | ||
| Coach(es) | Pablo Lemoine | ||
| Captain(s) | Nicolás Klappenbach | ||
| Most caps | Diego Aguirre (74) | ||
| Top scorer | Juan Menchaca (259) | ||
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| First international | |||
| Chile 21 - 3 Uruguay (1948-06-02) |
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| Largest win | |||
| Paraguay 6 - 102 Uruguay (2011-05-14) |
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| Largest defeat | |||
| South Africa 134 - 3 Uruguay (2005-06-11) |
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| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 2 (First in 1999) | ||
| Best result | 3rd in pool 1999 | ||
The Uruguay national rugby union team is the representative side of Uruguay, governed by the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay. They have been playing international rugby since 1948. Their jersey is blue and black and they are known as Los Teros. They qualified twice for the Rugby World Cup, in 1999 and 2003. Uruguay won the South American Rugby Championship in 1981, the only time that a team other than Argentina won it. They came second on 19 occasions and third the remaining 9. Uruguay as of yet, have never beaten Argentina in an official match between the two nations.
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Uruguay made their official international debut in 1948, in a game against Chile, which Uruguay lost 21-3. Following their debut match, they return to competition in e Pan American Games, first against the more experienced Argentina, resulting in a 0-62 loss. Uruguay then faced Chile for the second time, defeating them by 8-3. The final match of the competition was a 17-10 win over Brazil. Uruguay thus became runners up in the first unofficial South American Rugby Championship.
Uruguay, after a four years hiatus, played Chile in 1956, who defeated them by 6-3. In 1958, they played for the first official South American Rugby Championship, in a pool of three countries. They first played Chile, this time losing by 9-34. The "Teros" met again Argentina, having another loss, this time by 3-50. Uruguay managed to defeat Peru (10-6) in the last game.
In 1960, Uruguay faced for the first time one of the powers of the Northern Hemysphere rugby, France XV, losing by 0-59, in Montevideo. Uruguay after this match entered their second South American Rugby Championship. They first won Brazil in a close game (11-8), losing then to Chile (5-28) and Argentina (3-36), in the closest result to then between both countries.
The 1970s started off with a win over Paraguay in 1971, which was followed by a win and loss against Chile and a win against Brazil. They also played Argentina twice in the 1970s. However, they won all their matches except for those against Argentina, as well as losing one game against Chile and drawing another. However, the next game against Argentina, two years later in 1979, Uruguay came close to defeating the Pumas, going down by just three points, the final score being 19 to 16.
The 1980s started off with a 54 to 14 win over Paraguay, which resulted in a winning streak that was stopped by Argentina in 1983. Another short undefeated streak occurred over 1987/1989, which was broken by a 19 to 17 loss against Chile. This was followed by a sound loss to Argentina and loss to a new opponent, the United States Eagles.
The 1990s started off with wins against of Chile, Brazil and Paraguay. This was followed by more wins over their traditional opponents, though Uruguay still lost to Argentina, they also played Canada in a competitive 28 to 9 loss in 1995. Uruguay played some of the bigger nations such as Argentina, Canada and the United States, although the Canada and U.S. games were a lot closer than some of their previous encounters. A huge success for them was qualifying for the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. They won their pool fixture against Spain, Uruguay finished third in their pool.
Uruguay came within 10 points of Argentina in 2001, and also played nations such as Italy in the same year. Uruguay won most of their matches against their traditional Americas opponents in the early 2000s. Later in 2002, Uruguay defeated Canada, winning 25 to 23. They followed this up with a 10 to nine win over the United States. They again qualified for the World Cup. They won their pool fixture against Georgia 24 to 12.
Uruguay's qualification for the 2007 World Cup started in Americas Round 3a, where they were grouped with Argentina and Chile. After losing their first match 26 points to nil to Argentina, they defeated Chile 43 to 15 in Montevideo, which saw them enter Round 4, where they faced the USA. Uruguay lost on aggregate, and moved onto the repechage round as Americas 4. They played Portugal over two legs - losing the first in Lisbon and winning the second in Montevideo. Portugal qualified on aggregate points.
Uruguay lost the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualification.
Uruguay squad for the IRB international window against Portugal and Spain
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