RUGBY MATTERS
Cult hero ‘Capo’ craving last hurrah with Uruguay
ONE of my favourite rugby characters is the lugubrious Castres lock Rodrigo Capó-Ortega who often resembles a Pink Panther extra but on his day is an extremely combative and fiery lock.
Anyway, for dedicated ‘Capo’ watchers comes the good news that there appears to have been a kissing and making up between the venerable second row and Uruguay as the latter prepare for the double-header with Canada next month which will decide the third qualifying spot from the Americas for RWC2019.
Capo, who turned 37 this week, controversially retired from Test rugby in 2015 just three months short of the World Cup having previously indicated he would be available for the tournament in England. Since then though he has continued to feature prominently in the underrated Castres side that delights in toppling the big boys in the T14 with some regularity.
Indeed after 330 top flight games over 17 seasons in France – and there’s a book to be written there one day – Capo has achieved cult status at the club, a Pythonesque Black Knight figure making light of various flesh wounds and injuries while also defying the march of time. So much so that he is now in his second spell as skipper.
Much energised, he is now wondering if he retired from Test rugby too early and there has clearly been some bridge repairing going on in the background. Only this week Capo was telling El Show de Rugby that he wanted ‘one final go with Los Toros’ while the URU President Sebastián Piñeyrua replied that: “I have no doubt that Rodrigo Capó-Ortega will be involved in the RWC elimination qualifiers against Canada.”
Uruguay are actually well provisioned at lock. Manuel Leindear, a real prospect, has been going well in the T14 with Oyonnax while Ignacio Dotti, Diego Ayala and Diego Magno are all more than useful performers – but there is still no doubt that Capo-Ortega would add something to their pack. And if he did appear it would be 15 years after he made his World Cup debut at the 2003 tournament when he scored in their heavy defeat against England.
Although Castres do have a T14 match on January 27 – the day of Uruguay’s first game against Canada in Vancouver – the following week, when the return game will be staged in Montevideo, is free due to the start of the Six Nations so there is the possibility a deal could be struck. It’s probably the least Castres owe him.