Castilla y León Iberians

Castilla y León
Full nameCastilla y León Iberians
Founded2021; 3 years ago (2021)
LocationCastilla y León, Spain
Ground(s)Estadio Pepe Rojo (Capacity: 5,000)
Coach(es)Miguel Velasco
Captain(s)Kalokalo Gavidi
League(s)Rugby Europe Super Cup
2021–223rd
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.iberiansrugby.com

The Castilla y León Iberians is a professional Spanish rugby union team based in the Castilla y León region. They compete annually in the Rugby Europe Super Cup.[1] Their motto is "We are Iberians". Their homeground is Estadio Pepe Rojo, Valladolid.

History

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The franchise was founded in 2021 as the Spanish representative in the Rugby Europe Super Cup. The Castilla y Leon Iberians is made up of the clubs from the Castile and León Rugby División de Honor, thus bringing together VRAC, El Salvador, and the University of Burgos (UBU) teams.

The Rugby Europe Super Cup competition features 8 teams or franchises in two groups or "conferences", which is played in a Round Robin format. At the end of the two rounds, the two best teams from each conference participated in the final phase.

During 2021 the Western Conference included the Brussels Devils of Belgium, the Delta of the Netherlands, the Lusitanos of Portugal, and the Castilla y Leon Iberians.

The Iberians qualified for the semi-finals, losing to the Black Lion 43-40 at Avchala Stadium.

The Rugby Europe Super Cup 2022 saw the Iberians in the semi-finals losing again to the Black Lion 41-9.

Home Ground

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Estadio Pepe Rojo is located in the city of Valladolid, Spain. It is also the home ground of CR El Salvador and Valladolid RAC. The sports complex consists of five rugby fields (Field no.1 - main field; Field no.2; field no.3 - 'track and field'; field no.4 and field no. 5, - 'artificial grass' ), of which the no. 1 y no. 2 are used regularly for first-grade official competition.

Estadio Pepe Rojo

The No. 1 field, which is the main field of the complex, has a roofed grandstand with seats at the west end, as well as a unroofed stand at the east end, with also a small stand at the north end, with the west stand being refurbished and expanded and the south end was built in 2016 (the stadium records big attendances when both teams play the local derby or a championship final). With this refurbishment it was possible to expand the capacity of Pepe Rojo to 1.150 seats, thus, reaching the amount of 6.000 seats in the No.1 field.

2021-22 squad

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Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province
France Jordan Argerich Hooker (1993-04-06) 6 April 1993 (age 31) 0 Aparejadores
Spain Pablo Miejimolle Hooker (1995-01-17) 17 January 1995 (age 29) 2 VRAC
Spain Álvaro Pírez Hooker (1999-07-19) 19 July 1999 (age 25) 0 VRAC
Spain Matthew Smith Hooker (1990-10-12) 12 October 1990 (age 34) 1 El Salvador
Spain Andrés Alvarado Prop (1990-10-12) 12 October 1990 (age 34) 2 El Salvador
Spain Alberto Blanco Prop (1990-10-18) 18 October 1990 (age 34) 22 VRAC
Spain Raúl Calzón Prop (1997-02-16) 16 February 1997 (age 27) 0 VRAC
Argentina Lucas Favre Prop (1990-10-12) 12 October 1990 (age 34) 2 El Salvador
Spain Nicolás Jurado Prop (1998-12-14) 14 December 1998 (age 25) 1 El Salvador
Spain Leandro Wozniak Prop (1991-08-10) 10 August 1991 (age 33) 1 Aparejadores
Argentina Sacha Casañas Lock (1993-10-24) 24 October 1993 (age 31) 0 VRAC
Spain Kalokalo Gavidi (c Lock (1981-10-09) 9 October 1981 (age 43) 15 VRAC
Spain Víctor Sánchez Lock (1987-06-20) 20 June 1987 (age 37) 27 El Salvador
Spain Daniel Stöhr Lock (1995-05-23) 23 May 1995 (age 29) 1 VRAC
Argentina Nicolas Walker Lock (1998-01-05) 5 January 1998 (age 26) 0 Aparejadores
Spain Michael Walker-Fitton Lock (1986-10-02) 2 October 1986 (age 38) 13 El Salvador
Spain Valentín Bustos Back row (2000-08-22) 22 August 2000 (age 24) 0 Aparejadores
Spain Rodrigo Fernández Back row (2000-08-18) 18 August 2000 (age 24) 0 El Salvador
Spain Ignacio Martínez Back row (1999-11-12) 12 November 1999 (age 24) 0 El Salvador
New Zealand Siosiua Moala Back row (1989-05-29) 29 May 1989 (age 35) 0 VRAC
Spain Marc Sánchez Back row (1999-08-21) 21 August 1999 (age 25) 0 Aparejadores
England George Stokes Back row (1995-05-15) 15 May 1995 (age 29) 0 VRAC
Samoa Kirk Tufuga Back row (1991-06-04) 4 June 1991 (age 33) 0 El Salvador
Spain Gabriel Vélez Back row (1997-07-10) 10 July 1997 (age 27) 0 VRAC
Chile Nicolás Herreros Scrum-half (1990-01-23) 23 January 1990 (age 34) 3 Aparejadores
South Africa Zee Mkhabela Scrum-half (1994-10-15) 15 October 1994 (age 30) 0 VRAC
Spain Facundo Munilla Scrum-half (1995-05-16) 16 May 1995 (age 29) 24 El Salvador
Spain Nicolás Rocaries Scrum-half (2000-03-30) 30 March 2000 (age 24) 0 Aparejadores
England Sam Katz Fly-half (1990-09-07) 7 September 1990 (age 34) 0 El Salvador
Spain Baltazar Taibo Fly-half (1997-01-30) 30 January 1997 (age 27) 3 VRAC
Hong Kong Nathan de Thierry Fly-half (1994-02-14) 14 February 1994 (age 30) 2 VRAC
South Africa Martin du Toit Fly-half (1989-06-27) 27 June 1989 (age 35) 0 El Salvador
Spain Alejandro Alonso Centre (1998-07-21) 21 July 1998 (age 26) 1 VRAC
Spain David Barrios Centre (1999-05-02) 2 May 1999 (age 25) 0 El Salvador
Spain Álvar Gimeno Centre (1995-12-15) 15 December 1995 (age 28) 23 VRAC
Argentina Juan Diego Zabalegui Centre (1991-12-26) 26 December 1991 (age 32) 0 Aparejadores
Spain Miguel Lainz Wing (1994-11-02) 2 November 1994 (age 29) 0 VRAC
Spain Andrés Masuyama Wing (1998-07-16) 16 July 1998 (age 26) 0 Aparejadores
Spain Pedro Luis de la Lastra Wing (1995-12-05) 5 December 1995 (age 28) 23 VRAC
Spain Pablo Rascón Wing (1999-07-21) 21 July 1999 (age 25) 0 Aparejadores
Chile Franco Velarde Wing (1994-11-04) 4 November 1994 (age 29) 0 6 El Salvador
Burkina Faso Jean-Yves Zebango Wing (1993-05-03) 3 May 1993 (age 31) N/A El Salvador
Spain J. W. Bell Fullback (1990-01-18) 18 January 1990 (age 34) 4 VRAC
Argentina Tomás Carrió Fullback (1989-03-10) 10 March 1989 (age 35) 0 Aparejadores
Spain Federico Castiglioni Fullback (1990-08-10) 10 August 1990 (age 34) 28 Aparejadores
  • Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold.

See also

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References

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