Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Super Rugby Americas 2024 is a professional rugby competition. The league features seven teams with matches in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, the USA and Uruguay. There are different nationalities across team rosters from entirely homegrown to a range of Foreign-Born / Produced Players.
South American progress in 2023 underlines Super Rugby Americas as a productive competition for international competition. Uruguay defeated Namibia and proved to be competitive in three out of their four matches at Rugby World Cup 2023 while Chile were debutants. Peñarol and Selknam were the backbone of the Uruguayan and Chilean rosters.
Argentina reached the Semi Finals of the tournament. Los Pumas’ roster included players from past Super Rugby Americas seasons. Martín Bogado, Santiago Chocobares, Juan Martín González, Joaquín Oviedo, Pedro Rubiolo, Ignacio Ruiz, Joel Sclavi and Mayco Vivas are former players for Argentine teams. They all went from the league to elite rugby leagues abroad.
Expansion to 24-teams also means an eye on new possibilities. Brazil and Paraguay are two instances. Os Cobras and Yacare are projects to lift the level of the test teams. Both are certain to have high numbers of players who will play in Rugby World Cup 2027 Qualifiers.
The majority of players on every roster is eligible to represent the country of the applicable team. For instance, most Raptors players are USA eligible, all Peñarol players are eligible for Uruguay and all Dogos and Pampas players are eligible for Argentina.
This article documents Foreign-Born players in Super Rugby Americas 2024. The purpose is to identify who the players are, where they are from, how they are eligible, if the player has represented another country and which country produced and trained the player to make him the international player that he is today.
Homegrown players are identified in blue in the produced category. Players shown in blue are products of the country they are representing. That is to say, the team they represent is primarily responsible for the player’s development. Red indicates that the player is primarily or entirely the product of the rugby systems of a different country.
The Super Rugby Americas teams are listed in descending order starting with the team with the highest number of foreign-born players.
This is an original work researched and written by Paul Tait of Americas Rugby News.
YACARE (PARAGUAY)
Forty-three players are on Yacare’s roster for Super Rugby Americas 2024. Twenty-one of the players were born outside of Paraguay. Veteran scrum-half Gonzalo Barreiro was born in South Africa but raised in Paraguay. Teenage winger Facundo Paiva was born in Uruguay. He and Barreiro went through the domestic system.
The nineteen other players born abroad are all for Argentina. They are of two varieties: (a) players with a family connection who can play for Paraguay’s test team Los Yakares and (b) players signed from Argentina to help lift the level of the team in Super Rugby Americas.
Rolando Portillo, Ezequiel Reyes, Arturo López, Enzo Sander, Diego Miño and Gianfranco Parodi are Argentines capped by Paraguay. Ramiro Amarilla and Ignacio Palillo have played for the Paraguay XV.
The roster also contains a lengthily list of Argentine players who are included to lift the level of the team. They range from young up-and-coming talent to former World Cup Puma Ramiro Moyano. Players have represented Argentina U20’s, Los Pumas 7’s, the Argentina XV and Los Pumas.
YACARE
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 21/43 (48.8%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 23/43 (53.4%)
| PLAYER | BORN | PRODUCED | POS | PARAGUAY ELIGIBILITY | OTHER REP. |
| Rolando Portillo | Argentina | Argentina | LH | Parent | – |
| Ezequiel Reyes | Argentina | Argentina | LH | Parent | – |
| Ignacio Palillo | Argentina | Argentina | HK | Parent | – |
| Axel Zapata | Argentina | Argentina | HK | – | Argentina XV |
| Rodolfo Rivadeneira | Argentina | Argentina | TH | – | – |
| Lucio Anconetani | Argentina | Argentina | LO | – | Argentina XV |
| Felipe Puertas | Argentina | Argentina | FL | – | Argentina U20 |
| Juan Pérez Rachel | Argentina | Argentina | FL | – | Argentina U20 |
| Enzo Sander | Argentina | Argentina | FL | Parent | – |
| Nicolás Parada Heit | Argentina | Argentina | N8 | – | Argentina U20 |
| Gonzalo Barreiro | South Africa | Paraguay | SH | Parent | – |
| Juan Cruz Strada | Argentina | Argentina | SH | – | Argentina U20 |
| Joaquín Lamas | Argentina | Argentina | FH | – | Argentina 7’s |
| Juan Molinuevo | Argentina | Argentina | FH/FB | – | Argentina 7’s |
| Ramiro Amarilla | Argentina | Argentina | CE | Parent | – |
| Tomás Vanni | Argentina | Argentina | CE | – | Argentina 7’s |
| Gianfranco Parodi | Argentina | Argentina | WI | Parent | – |
| Ramiro Moyano | Argetina | Argentina | WI/FB | – | Argentina |
| Facundo Paiva | Uruguay | Paraguay | WI | Parent | – |
| Arturo López | Argentina | Argentina | FB | Parent | – |
| Tomás Mc Call | Argentina | Argentina | FB | – | – |
AMERICAN RAPTORS (USA)
The American Raptors roster contains eleven players born abroad. Seven of them meet World Rugby eligibly requirements to play for the USA. The four who do not are from South America. Diego Fortuny and Ignacio Mieres are former Pumas, Facundo Pomponio has played for the Argentina XV while Diego Magno is Uruguay’s all-time most capped player with 104 caps. He was the first player to reach the mark of 100 caps for a test team from the Americas.
Cian Barry, Aidan Christians, Watson Filitonga and Francisco Quinn are eligible to play for the USA. Christians played for USA u20 while Barry was a four-time All-American. Fellow scrum-half Devereaux Ferris moved to the USA in 2016.
Brothers Tommy Clark and Shawn Clark were born in different countries. They learned their rugby in the USA and are homegrown players. Center Tomi Morani was born in Miami and raised in Argentina. He is eligible for the Eagles.
Rufus McLean was born in Boston but raised in Scotland. He will be eligible to play for the USA beginning in the later half of 2025. Doing so would see McLean completing the eligibility allegiance switch. If so, McLean is a plausible name to expect on a team sheet for the USA before and at Rugby World Cup 2027.
AMERICAN RAPTORS
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 11/35 (31.4%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 25/35 (71.4%)
| PLAYER | BORN | PRODUCED | POS | USA ELIGIBILITY | OTHER REP. |
| Diego Fortuny | Argentina | Argentina | HK | – | Argentina |
| Facundo Pomponio | Argentina | Argentina | TH | – | Argentina XV |
| Diego Magno | Uruguay | Uruguay | LO | – | Uruguay |
| Aidan Christians | New Zealand | New Zealand | FL | Parent | New Zealand u18 Football |
| Tommy Clark | Samoa | USA | FL | Residency (2001) | – |
| Sione Talisa | New Zealand | Australia | N8 | Parent | – |
| Cian Barry | England | USA | SH | Parent | – |
| Ignacio Mieres | Argentina | Argentina | FH | – | Argentina |
| Devereaux Ferris | New Zealand | New Zealand | SH | Residency (2019) | – |
| Watson Filitonga | Tonga | USA | CE | Residency (2016) | – |
| Francisco Quinn | Argentina | Argentina | FB | – | – |
COBRAS (BRAZIL)
Twenty-seven of the thirty-four players on Os Cobras roster were born in Brazil. One of them is eligible for Brazil. Ben Donald was born in England. His family moved to New Zealand and Brazil before returning again to New Zealand. Donald qualifies for Brazil via cumulative residency and is capped.
Five of the players were born and raised in Argentina. Luciano Gabellieri, Francisco Moreno, and José Santucho have been recruited in an effort to boost Os Cobras’ front-row. Franco Carrera adds tall timber to the second-row which will also enable Cléber Dias to play more at flanker.
Agustín Llano adds an option in the back-three.
Lorenzo Massari Temer was born in Brazil but learned his rugby in Italy.
COBRAS
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 27/34 (79.4%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 27/34 (79.4%)
| PLAYER | BORN | PRODUCED | POS | BRAZIL ELIGIBILITY | OTHER REP. |
| Jack Forbes | Australia | Australia | LH | Parent | – |
| Luciano Gabellieri | Argentina | Argentina | LH | – | – |
| Francisco Moreno | Argentina | Argentina | TH | – | – |
| José Santucho | Argentina | Argentina | TH | – | – |
| Ben Donald | England | Brazil | LO | Cumulative Residency | – |
| Franco Carrera | Argentina | Argentina | LO | – | Sudamerica XV |
| Alain Altahona | Colombia | Colombia | WI | – | Colombia |
| Agustín Llano | Argentina | Argentina | FB | – | Argentina U18 |
SELKNAM (CHILE)
Selknam’s roster has six players who were not born in Chile. Two of them moved to Chile as young children and are products of Chile’s rugby system. Salvador Lues was born in Peru and Matías Garafulic was born in Brazil. Garafulic’s older brother, who is also on the roster, was born in Chile.
The four others not born in Chile are not eligible to play for Chile; they were recruited by Selknam for Super Rugby Americas and will not play for Chile. They have been signed to boost the team in positions deemed to be of greatest need. Federico Albrisi covers second-row, Rafael Iriate is scrum-half, Nicolás Roger is a fly half while Iñaki Delguy is, like his Puma brother, a winger.
| PLAYER | BORN | PRODUCED | POS | CHILE ELIGIBILITY | OTHER REP. |
| Salvador Lues | Peru | Chile | LH | Parent | – |
| Federico Albrisi | Argentina | Argentina | LO | – | Argentina U20 |
| Rafael Iriate | Argentina | Argentina | SH | – | Argentina XV |
| Nicolás Roger | Argentina | Argentina | FH | – | Argentina U20 |
| Matías Garafulic | Brazil | Chile | CE | Parent | – |
| Iñaki Delguy | Argentina | Argentina | WI | – | Argentina XV |
SELKNAM
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 6/46 (13.0%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 42/46 (91.3%)
PENAROL (URUGUAY)
Peñarol has two players born abroad. Both are eligible for Uruguay. Teenage prop Santiago Cagnone played for Uruguay at the 2023 World Rugby U20 Trophy. He comes from Sporting Rugby in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He has already represented both Argentina and Uruguay at the junior level. He played for Argentina at junior level in 2022 and played for Uruguay, including against Argentina, at u20 level in 2023.
Uruguay’s staring fullback from Rugby World Cup 2023 was born abroad. Baltazar Amaya moved to Uruguay aged 8. As such, Amaya is a foreign-born player who was homegrown in Uruguay.
PENAROL
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 40/42 (95.2%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 41/42 (97.6%)
| PLAYER | BORN | PRODUCED | POS | URUGUAY ELIGIBILITY | OTHER REP. |
| Santiago Cagnone | Argentina | Argentina | LH | Parent | Argentina u18 |
| Baltazar Amaya | Argentina | Uruguay | FB | Residency (2009) | – |
DOGOS (ARGENTINA)
The entirety of the Dogos roster come from Argentina. They also all learned their rugby in the country. For this reason the roster is entirely homegrown.
DOGOS
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 46/46 (100%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 46/46 (100%)
PAMPAS (ARGENTINA)
Every Pampas player was born and raised in Argentina. They all learned their rugby in Argentina. The roster is therefore entirely homegrown.
PAMPAS
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 30/30 (100%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 30/30 (100%)
