Castilla y León Iberians
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.
| Full name | Castilla y León Iberians | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2021 | ||
| Location | Castilla 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 | ||
| 2021–22 | 3rd | ||
| |||
| Official website | |||
| www | |||
History
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
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.
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
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jordan Argerich |
Hooker | 6 April 1993 | 0 | Aparejadores |
 Pablo Miejimolle |
Hooker | 17 January 1995 | 2 | VRAC |
| Álvaro Pírez |
Hooker | 19 July 1999 | 0 | VRAC |
| Matthew Smith |
Hooker | 12 October 1990 | 1 | El Salvador |
| Andrés Alvarado |
Prop | 12 October 1990 | 2 | El Salvador |
| Alberto Blanco |
Prop | 18 October 1990 | 22 | VRAC |
| Raúl Calzón |
Prop | 16 February 1997 | 0 | VRAC |
 Lucas Favre |
Prop | 12 October 1990 | 2 | El Salvador |
| Nicolás Jurado |
Prop | 14 December 1998 | 1 | El Salvador |
| Leandro Wozniak |
Prop | 10 August 1991 | 1 | Aparejadores |
| Sacha Casañas |
Lock | 24 October 1993 | 0 | VRAC |
| Kalokalo Gavidi (c |
Lock | 9 October 1981 | 15 | VRAC |
| Víctor Sánchez |
Lock | 20 June 1987 | 27 | El Salvador |
| Daniel Stöhr |
Lock | 23 May 1995 | 1 | VRAC |
| Nicolas Walker |
Lock | 5 January 1998 | 0 | Aparejadores |
| Michael Walker-Fitton |
Lock | 2 October 1986 | 13 | El Salvador |
| Valentín Bustos |
Back row | 22 August 2000 | 0 | Aparejadores |
| Rodrigo Fernández |
Back row | 18 August 2000 | 0 | El Salvador |
| Ignacio Martínez |
Back row | 12 November 1999 | 0 | El Salvador |
 Siosiua Moala |
Back row | 29 May 1989 | 0 | VRAC |
| Marc Sánchez |
Back row | 21 August 1999 | 0 | Aparejadores |
 George Stokes |
Back row | 15 May 1995 | 0 | VRAC |
 Kirk Tufuga |
Back row | 4 June 1991 | 0 | El Salvador |
| Gabriel Vélez |
Back row | 10 July 1997 | 0 | VRAC |
 Nicolás Herreros |
Scrum-half | 23 January 1990 | 3 | Aparejadores |
 Zee Mkhabela |
Scrum-half | 15 October 1994 | 0 | VRAC |
| Facundo Munilla |
Scrum-half | 16 May 1995 | 24 | El Salvador |
| Nicolás Rocaries |
Scrum-half | 30 March 2000 | 0 | Aparejadores |
| Sam Katz |
Fly-half | 7 September 1990 | 0 | El Salvador |
| Baltazar Taibo |
Fly-half | 30 January 1997 | 3 | VRAC |
 Nathan de Thierry |
Fly-half | 14 February 1994 | 2 | VRAC |
| Martin du Toit |
Fly-half | 27 June 1989 | 0 | El Salvador |
| Alejandro Alonso |
Centre | 21 July 1998 | 1 | VRAC |
| David Barrios |
Centre | 2 May 1999 | 0 | El Salvador |
| Álvar Gimeno |
Centre | 15 December 1995 | 23 | VRAC |
| Juan Diego Zabalegui |
Centre | 26 December 1991 | 0 | Aparejadores |
| Miguel Lainz |
Wing | 2 November 1994 | 0 | VRAC |
| Andrés Masuyama |
Wing | 16 July 1998 | 0 | Aparejadores |
| Pedro Luis de la Lastra |
Wing | 5 December 1995 | 23 | VRAC |
| Pablo Rascón |
Wing | 21 July 1999 | 0 | Aparejadores |
| Franco Velarde |
Wing | 4 November 1994 | 0 6 | El Salvador |
 Jean-Yves Zebango |
Wing | 3 May 1993 | N/A | El Salvador |
| J. W. Bell |
Fullback | 18 January 1990 | 4 | VRAC |
| Tomás Carrió |
Fullback | 10 March 1989 | 0 | Aparejadores |
| Federico Castiglioni |
Fullback | 10 August 1990 | 28 | Aparejadores |
- Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold.
External links
- Official website (in Spanish)