Esteban Meneses

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Professor Esteban Meneses (born 13 September 1972), is an Argentine rugby union head coach and former player.

Playing

Meneses, born in La Plata, played for his local team for most of his playing career.^[1] Starting out in the junior section at his club La Plata at a young age, Meneses moved through the ranks to senior rugby in 1992. He was part of the La Plata team that won the last URBA Championship organised by the national union before it became a regional competition,^[2] and helped his side to second place in the Nacional de Clubes competition.

In 1999, Meneses signed with Italian side Calvisano, which saw him play second tier European Rugby during the 1999–2000 European Challenge Cup. He remained in Italy for three more years, moving to Amatori Alghero in the 2001–2002 season, before returning home to La Plata a season later where he became captain in 2004.^[3] After another season at the helm, he retired at the end of the 2005 season after playing senior rugby for over a decade for his local club, and a four-year stint in Europe.

Coaching

After retiring from playing in 2005, Meneses became a coach at La Plata, initially with the junior section before becoming joint coach with Agustín Carrara with the senior side in 2009. In just their first season in charge, they led La Plata to third in the URBA Championship, before going one step further in 2010 to runner-up, behind San Isidro. Between 2012 and 2014 Meneses coached age-grade teams for the URBA Provence, at under-17 and under-19 level. In 2015 he was given a chance to be a professional coach at C.U.B.A., who play in the top flight division in Argentina. He led the side to second in the URBA Championship, despite the side winning the Nacional de Clubes competition in 2014.

Uruguay

In December 2015, Meneses was unveiled as the new head coach for the Uruguayan national team, replacing Pablo Lemoine who had been in charge since 2012.^[4] Meneses joined the Uruguayan Rugby Union as a direct recommendation from the then Argentine head coach, Daniel Hourcade.^[5] Meneses would lead Uruguay into a new era, after the union was granted promotion to Tier 2 status, having been a Tier 3 nation since the tiered system had been introduced.

His first match in charge was against

During the 2016 World Rugby Nations Cup, Uruguay struggled to put together a consistent form, after narrowly losing in the opening round to Emerging Italy 26–24 and being completed outranked by eventual champions Romania 40–0 in round 2. Had it not been for a 16–0 victory over Spain in the final round, Uruguay would have finished bottom for the first time since their appearance in 2008.^[6] The 2016 November test window saw Uruguay tour Europe for their first ever 3-test tour, which saw Uruguay lose all three tests; Germany (24–21), Spain (33–16) and Romania (36–10).

2017 was an important year for Uruguay, as it was 2019 Rugby World Cup Americas Qualification year for the leading nations in the Americas. The year started promising, with an improved Americas Rugby Championship campaign, finishing third with wins over Brazil, Chile and a first win over Canada since 2002. However the result in the 2017 South American Rugby Championship "A" was the all important Qualification tournament, and with three successful victories over the participating nations, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay, Uruguay advanced to the Americas Repechage play-offs against Canada.^[7]

In June 2017, the

In February 2018, Meneses led his team to 2019 Rugby World Cup qualification, after successfully beating Canada 2–0 over a two-leg qualification play-off, 70–60 on aggregate.^[10] The 38–29 victory in Canada, was the first time Uruguay had beaten Canada in Canada. Following this, Uruguay maintained their third-place finish in the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship, with defeats to Argentina XV and the United States, and later went onto retain the 2018 World Rugby Nations Cup in June that year.^[11] The 2018 November test window saw Uruguay win one lose one during the tour; defeating Romania 27–20, whilst losing to Fiji 68–7.

During the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship, Uruguay recorded their best ever finished of second in the Championship. This came with Uruguay defeating all but one team - Champions Argentina XV - during the Championship, including a victory over the United States in Tukwila, Washington. Uruguay continued this form into the 2019 World Rugby Nations Cup, taking away the title for the third consecutive year. However, in an additional Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Spain, Spain recorded their largest winning victory over Los Teros, winning 41–21.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup started with a surprising 30-27 win from Uruguay over Fiji on 25 September. It was Uruguay’s first World Cup win in 16 years.

Honours

Uruguay

References

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by Pablo Lemoine	Uruguay National Rugby Union Coach 2015–	Succeeded by Incumbent