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Uruguay have lost Rodrigo Capó Ortega for Rugby World Cup 2019. The star veteran second-rower has ruled himself out of playing for his country in Japan this year as he is yet to return to 100% fitness following surgery.
The 38-year-old was injured in January and underwent surgery on a herniated disc in February. It would prove to be season-ending and the diagnosis has revealed that he will not be ready in time for the RWC 2019 pre-season training.
His non-availability will certainty mean that his time playing international rugby has concluded. His career for Uruguay began in 2000 in a home win over Chile. Three years later he was starting for Los Teros at the Rugby World Cup in Australia and was a professional player for Castres in France.
He would take breaks from test duty on three occasions, always for differing reasons. They came in 2004-2005, 2010-2013, and 2015-2017. His final appearance would be a glorious home win over Canada which saw Uruguay qualify for RWC 2019 as Americas 2.
At the time of returning to representative duty Capó Ortega made it known that his goal was to see Uruguay qualifying for RWC 2019. He succeeded in doing so and the same was true in 2014 when he helped Los Teros qualify via repechage, beating Russia.
The final four caps of Capó Ortega’s test career would be RWC qualifiers against Russia in 2014, and Canada in 2018.
