Uruguayan rugby is on the up with the national sevens and 15s teams looking forward to participating at their respective Rugby World Cups and a second consecutive World Rugby Nations Cup title in the bag.

The seeds for the success story, however, were first sown back in 2012 when the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay (URU) decided to set up its headquarters at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo and run its newly-established high-performance programme from there.

Prior to then, it had had a chequered history. 

Located in the leafy Parque Rivera, the stadium was built in 1984 for football but it was only 12 months before rugby made an appearance as Los Teros hosted France, a game Les Bleus won 34-6.

The ground quickly fell into a state of disrepair, though, despite attempts to improve facilities in 2006, and by 2012, when the Union first entered into talks with the local municipality about using the stadium as its permanent home, it was semi-abandoned.

Even so, Pablo Ferrari, URU President, and Union secretary at the time, saw its potential as a hub for rugby. “We realised then that the stadium could be a great place for rugby. Having a stadium makes it more appealing for the fans to go and watch games. It also had a structure that would allow us to grow.”

Spiritual home

When rugby took control of the stadium in late 2012, it was not long before work started on improving the facilities.

The Union offices moved there, rooms in the stadium complex were refurbished and the high-performance centre opened. All of this helped lay the foundations for Los Teros to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015 and 2019.

The initial lease was for 10 years in conjunction with the Uruguayan Soccer Federation, who used the stadium as a base for its women’s national team.

Both governing bodies have since extended their tenure for another 10 years, keeping them there until at least 2038.

“All of this is because URU has generated sufficient confidence with the national and municipal governments, allowing us to continue having projects," said Ferrari.

Since 2012, close to US$1 million have been invested into making the Estadio Charrúa a facility fit to host prestigious global tournaments such as last year's World Rugby U20 Trophy and the Nations Cup. Support has come from sponsors, the government and World Rugby.

Major facelift

With the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup coming to Uruguay at the end of the year, the ground is currently receiving another major facelift. World Rugby and FIFA-approved artificial grass is being laid while extra changing rooms, a hydrotherapy pool and a state-of-the-art light system will be in place in time for the World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge in October.

“This takes us into a better place as a rugby union, with better development, sustained growth – both in numbers and quality – and able to involve more players in our high-performance unit,” added Ferrari.

“Operationally, it will allow us to modify our timetables and we’ll be able to play night games, generating a better fan experience.”

Uruguayan rugby is in a good place, literally and figuratively. A national survey placed it as the second most popular sport in the country, with more than 7,000 registered players. The URU is in the top five sporting federations, both in terms of governance and results, yet Ferrari wants more growth.

“We can still grow the game 20-25 per cent in metropolitan areas and more than 100 per cent in the rest of the country,” he proclaimed while adding a cautionary note. “We don’t want to lose the values of the game; we want to control our growth. Our goal is to have more international events and that World Rugby continues to trust in us.”