Gastón Mieres (born 5 October 1989 in Punta del Este, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan rugby union player who plays for Canadian club Toronto Arrows in Major League Rugby (MLR) and the Uruguay national rugby union team Los Teros as a fullback.
| Date of birth | October 5, 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Punta del Este, Uruguay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 178 lb (81 kg; 11 st) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Career edit
Mieres began playing rugby at a young age for Lobos, the only rugby team in his birthplace of Punta del Este, Uruguay.[1] Due to his great speed and footwork, as well as a remarkable skill for tackling he was selected to play for the national youth teams throughout every category.
In 2010, he received his first full cap for the first team of Los Teros[2] and then went on to alternate between Los Teros XV's team and the 7's team, depending on each's calendar.
Mieres began playing professionally in 2014 for Rugby Club Valpolicella of Verona, Italy of the second tier of the Italian Rugby Union championship, after outstanding performances in several test matches and the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifyings.[3]
He has played at the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying[4] and at the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying, where Los Teros achieved the feat of beating Russia in the playoffs for the last place at the World Cup.[5]
Of the 31 players included in the Los Teros squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, only four were playing at a professional level (Mieres, Felipe Berchesi, Agustín Ormaechea and Mario Sagario). It is for this reason that obtaining the last spot for the 2015 Rugby World Cup was such an exceptional accomplishment since it made Los Teros the only team composed of amateur players out of the 20 taking part in the tournament.[6]
Mieres ranked third in the Most Offloads Made ranking of the 2015 Rugby World Cup during the group stage for having made seven offloads, the same as world renowned offloader Sonny Bill Williams of the New Zealand All Blacks.[7]
In November 2015, Mieres was tested on a week trial on Coventry Rugby Club, till he finally signed a short contract with the team. The player returned to Lobos in early 2016.
He signed with Canadian club Toronto Arrows ahead of the 2019 Major League Rugby season.[8]
References edit
- ^ "Mieres, uno de los profesionales de los Teros, no sabe si volverá a Europa".
- ^ "Playoff RWC: Uruguay 21-21 Rumania". 13 November 2010.
- ^ "GASTON MIERES PASÓ DE LOBOS AL RUGBY ITALIANO - APD". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05.
- ^ "Romania crush Uruguay 39-12 to reach seventh World Cup". 27 November 2010.
- ^ "Uruguay ganó y estará en el Mundial de 2015". 10 October 2014.
- ^ "Uruguay players juggle work, family and rugby | Rugby World Cup".
- ^ @rugbyworldcup (October 7, 2015). "SLICK HANDS Four offloads from #URU's Gaston Mieres against #FJI launch him into the #RWC2015's top five list" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Toronto Arrows Sign Uruguay Fullback Gastón Mieres". DJ Coil Rugby. November 7, 2018.
External links edit
- Gastón Mieres at ESPNscrum
- Gastón Mieres at ItsRugby.co.uk
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