Esteban Meneses rugby player
Esteban Meneses rugby player

Esteban Meneses

13th Sep 1972 1.88m/98kg Head Coach

Meneses started his playing career in the junior section at his club La Plata at a young age and 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,

In 1999, Meneses signed with Italian side Calvisano, and played second tier European Rugby during the 1999–2000 European Challenge Cup.

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.

He ventured into coaching and led La Plata, initially with the junior section before becoming joint coach with Agustín Carrara with the senior side in 2009.

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.

In December 2015, Meneses was unveiled as the new head coach for the Uruguayan national team, replacing Pablo Lemoine.

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.

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. The victory in Canada was the first time Uruguay had beaten Canada in Canada. Following this, Uruguay maintained their third-place in the Americas Rugby Championship.

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.

Uruguay continued this form into the 2019 World Rugby Nations Cup, taking away the title for the third consecutive year.

Career

Uruguay SQUARE Uruguay
Head Coach
2015 - present