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Leading Uruguayan official Joaquín Montes has retired from refereeing. The 39-year-old has been a regular for South American test matches and is undoubtedly among the leading officials from the Americas.
Capable of refereeing at the same standards in both Spanish and English, Montes has taken charge of key matches with distinction. His final match was on Saturday in Jundiaí with Brazil defeating Chile 15-10 in their home match.
Widely reported as being his first test match was Spain vs Japan in November 2013. However Montes refereed for a far longer period than this. On October 20 2006 he officiated Brazil vs Colombia and would be in charge of many other South American B fixtures before being appointed higher categories of matches.
Having risen through the ranks of Sudamérica Rugby Montes would continue on domestically as a senior official in the Campeonato Uruguayo de Rugby and Nacional de Clubes.
In 2011 Montes had the honor of refereeing the Final of the 2011 Junior World Trophy between Samoa and Japan. The following year saw him graduating to be an international referee with him refereeing in the 2013 edition of the Americas Rugby Championship before taking charge of test rugby for the first time the following month.
