Rugby had first been played in Uruguay in 1865 due to the British expatriate community playing between members of the local cricket clubs.
Montevideo Cricket Club became one of the strongest rugby clubs in the region due to rugby mostly staying within the British community. The Uruguayan Rugby Union was founded in 1951 following a Uruguayan representative team taking part in the El Sudamericano de Rugby against teams from Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Most of the clubs that are members are affiliated to English speaking schools but the Uruguayan Rugby Union also promote the sport in sports centres and in prisons. In 2013, with funding from the Uruguayan government and private investment, the Uruguyan Rugby Union had a rugby performance centre built at
Charrúa Stadium. It was completed in 2016. Before 2015, the Uruguayan Rugby Union was fully amateur with no payments to its national team players. After Uruguay qualified for the
2015 Rugby World Cup, the Union started making payments to players of the Uruguay national rugby union team due to an increase in funding. Contrary to many professional rugby nations, the Uruguayan Rugby Union often encourages its national players to play abroad in England or France to gain experience to benefit the Union. 2015 and
2019 Rugby World Cups. == References ==