The Houston SaberCats re-signed Uruguay National Team Lock/Flanker for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 31-year-old all-time Uruguay cap leader has 94 test appearances is 6’2″ and 231 lbs. He will be 32 in April.
Diego, the team’s vice-captain, started four matches in 2020, with three of them at openside flanker and one at No. 8. He played for Uruguay in the 2020 Sudamerica Rugby Nations Cup.
In 2019 he played 741 minutes in 12 matches for the SaberCats. He carried 77 times for 339 meters, had 1 tackle break, 8 offloads, and made 96 tackles. He returns to the team after playing for Uruguay at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Diego is from Montevideo, Uruguay, and attended Scuola Italiano di Montevideo from 1991-2006. He then attended FCEA – Facultad de Ciencias for Business and Economics from 2009-2013. He continued his education from 2013-2014 at Universidad de la Empresa studying Marketing Analysis and e-Business Analysis.
Diego plays club rugby for Montevideo Cricket Club (MVCC). He played in the World Rugby Under-20s Trophy in 2001 and made his debut for the Uruguay National Rugby Team against Russia in Bucharest on June 20, 2008. Since then he has played in numerous Consur (Sudamerica Rugby) Championships, Nations Cup, and Americas Rugby Championships. He also has played for Uruguay XV, with his latest appearance in the 2018 Americas Pacific Challenge. His last test for Uruguay was against Fiji on November 17, 2018.
Diego was a member of the 2015 Rugby World Cup team and helped the team qualify for the 2019 RWC in Japan. Barring injury, he was part of the team’s World Cup squad in 2019. With this in mind, he participated in the World Rugby MLR Combine at Glendale in October 2018. He now has played in 92 matches for Uruguay, starting 61 and scoring 11 tries.
Following the Combine, he signed a contract with the Houston SaberCats for the 2019 MLR season. The SaberCats remember his performance against the team in January 2018 when he scored three of the team’s four tries. In 2019 he was a key contributor for the SaberCats and his leadership will continue in 2020.
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