Austin Elite Rugby re-signed Marcelo Torrealba for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. The 23-year-old scrumhalf from Santiago, Chile is 5’7″ and 172 lbs.
During 2019 he played 414 minutes in 12 matches and scored one try. He carried 30 times for 181 meters, made 3 linebreaks, 4 offloads, kicked 29 times for 693 meters, and made 48 tackles.
Following the 2019 MLR season, Marcelo played both Xvs and sevens with the Chile National team. He played in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and trained with the National XVs team.
Marcelo attended Grange School and began playing rugby at age 5 with the school team. He has attended the Universidad Nacional Andres Bello since 2015.
In 2012 he moved to New Zealand and attended Southland High School where he played rugby. Two years later, he returned to Chile to begin training for the Condores Sevens team.
He made his debut for Los Condores in December 2014 and has played in a number of Sevens tournaments. He was an integral member of the team in winning the gold medal at Juegos Bolivarjanos in 2017. That year he received the Condor de Oro Award, as the Rugby Player of the Year, by the Chilean Circle of Sports Journalists. He also has played for the Chile Under-20s.
In 2017 he also played in the Oktober Sevens and helped the team beat New Zealand in the Silicon Valley Sevens and was named 1 0f 50 ‘Heroes of Spirit’ by La Tercera.
In January 2018 he played in the Seven de Vina del Mar and the Punte del Este Sevens. He then played in the HSBC World Sevens Series, USA Sevens and in the Canada Sevens.
Marcelo also played club rugby for the Old Boys and helped the team win the 2017 Chilean Club Championship at wing. In 2018 he played for the National 15s team against the Maori All Blacks.
Marcelo attended the World Rugby Combine in Glendale, Colorado and this has led to him joining Austin Elite Rugby for the 2019 MLR season.
Backs Coach CJ De Wet said that “Marcelo was a standout player at the World Rugby combine. We feel that as an international for Chile his experience and quality will be invaluable to our squad. His dynamism and enthusiasm with the ball in hand will add a different dimension to our attack. Us coaches and admin. are excited to welcome Marcelo to our team.”
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