From Under 19 captain to Rugby World Cup player to Under 20 coach, for Uruguayan head coach Martín Mendaro it is pay-back time.

The receding lines of Mendaro’s hair do not show how young he is – 34 – but as one half of a coaching duo with Bruno Grunwaldt he has very experienced shoulders.

He first donned the Uruguayan light-blue jersey in 1991 at the then FIRA U19 World Championship in Toulouse and a year later captained them to fifth place – the highest ever position for a Uruguayan team – in Madrid with a team that had future Rugby World Cup players Diego Aguirre, Guillermo Storace, Juan Carlos Bado and Rodrigo Sánchez in its ranks.

“That team was coached by Daniel Herrera, Alvaro Pérez, Quique Amarillo and Pastor Silva and it was embryonic in many ways,” explained Mendaro, who is currently preparing Uruguay for their next match against Jamaica at the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in Santiago, Chile.

“We realised there and then that we needed to work harder. We understood that the standard of preparation and knocks was bigger and had to prepare accordingly.”
 
The change of mindset was accompanied by good leadership from the Uruguayan Rugby Union, at the time led by Atilio Rienzi, and seven years later Los Teros were beating Spain 27-15 in their first ever Rugby World Cup match in 1999.

Next generation shows promise

By then Mendaro was an established member of the team having made his full debut in 1993 during the qualifying rounds of Rugby World Cup 1995.

Having played 11 consecutive seasons in the national side and played at the Rugby World Cups in 1999 and 2003, the centre and scrum half from Carrasco Polo had to retire due to injury three months after returning from Australia.

“I have coached at Under 19 level since 2004 and having won the championship with the club for two consecutive years I was offered the Under 19 national team with Bruno Grunwaldt.

“I feel that by coaching at this level I am paying back all those who worked at every level to ensure that I could learn and enjoy the game; to live all the experiences the game gave me.

“Our goal is to prepare players technically, physically and most important to teach them the right spirit. I believe this generation of players will give Uruguay a lot.”

With regards to the goals of his side for the Junior World Rugby Trophy, Mendaro revealed that “regardless of the final outcome, the process we went through to reach Chile, the way the players worked and the focus they had make it a success.”