Old Boy´s Club - 1996 Season

1996 season

The Club has currently finished the 1996 season with great success. Won the Bowl Cup in the Uruguay Sevens held in Punta del Este in January, was runner up in the Fiji Sevens in March, Champion of the Official First Division Tournament "Apertura" 1996 of the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay, Champion of the First Division Official National Club Sevens of the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay, and won the Gold Cup in the Montevideo Night Sevens (we are good at night) held in November.
Also played the Southamerican Club Championship, the official First Division Torneo Uruguayo of the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay, the Argentinian Sevens in October and toured with great success England and Wales.
Several players from the Club played for the National teams.

Uruguay Sevens - Punta del Este 1996

The Old Boys club won the Bowl Cup after defeating Brazil (28-0), USA Atlantis (24-5) and Spain (26-10). The team members were José Viana (4 trys in the tournament, including one in the final match), Carlos Guliak, Manuel Reyes, Gabriel Alonso, César Cat, Felipe Cat, Santiago Cat, Juan Andrés Pérez, Guido Clerici and Pedro Rodríguez. The Coach was Alfredo Invernizzi.

In the pool matches the Old Boys Club had been defeated by Legends (an invitation side with Denis Charvet, Jim Williams, Jim Fenwick, Gabriel Travaglini and coached by Bob Dwyer) by 7-19, and by Wales 7 -24.

Playing outstanding Sevens Manuel Reyes was elected the best uruguayan player of the tournament.

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Fiji Sevens - 1996

For the Third time in a row the Club was the only Southamerican team in the Fiji Sevens, the land of the masters of Sevens.

Alfonso Cardoso, Héctor Deus, Manuel Reyes, Alvaro Fulquet, Roberto Travaglini, Guido Clerici, Pedro Rodríguez, Carlos Guliak, Carlos Rodríguez were part of the team whose coach was Alfredo Invernizzi and manager Rafael "Chocho" Varela.

This team made the best performance of the club in the Sevens, finishing as runner ups of the Plate Cup. In the pool matches they defeated Malaysia and draw with Australian Fijians 19-19. After that they defeated USA and after a great effort lost the final match to Hong-Kong.

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Southamerican Club Championship

As a runner up of the 1995 Uruguayan tournament the Club played the Southamerican Club Championship in Colonia del Sacramento, with the champions and runner ups of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In the first match the Old Boys Club destroyed San José R.C. from Paraguay by 92 to 3 . The team played with Alfonso Cardoso, Carlos Rodríguez, Santiago Cat, Héctor Deus and Gabriel Alonso, Manuel Reyes (Juan Enrique Young) and Santiago Cardoso, Pablo Hardoy (c), Felipe Cat and Guido Clerici, Juan C. Bado and Jon Hart, Luis Cestaro, Juan Pérez and Diego Cash (Duncan Espiga). The coach was Alfredo Invernizzi.

Superb handling and great concentration finished with several trys by backs and forwards.

In semis, the Club lost to the Club Atlético San Isidro (Argentinian Champion) by 17-55. Due to suspension Juan C. Bado (lock 1,97 mts., 115 kgms) couldn´t play and after 10 minutes Jon Hart (lock 2 metres, 112 kgms) was injured. However the first half was very near. In the second the argentinians played superb backline rugby and there was little to do for the Old Boys Club.

Club Atlético San Isidro finally won the Cup and are the current holders of the Southamerican Club Championship.

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Torneo Apertura 1996

This is the first official tournament of the Unión de Rugby del Uruguay (First Division). Despite playing at the same time the Southamerican Club Championship, the Old Boys Club defeated Los Cuervos and Champagnat to reach the final match against the Old Christians Club.

In a beautifull autumn afternoon, with a huge crowd in front, the Old Boys Club defeated the "blues" 22-16 with two superb trys, one from Alfonso Cardoso (sprinting 40 metres after a backline combination between Manuel Reyes and Santiago Cat) and Manuel Reyes (after a great tackle from Santiago Cat). This time Juan Carlos Bado and Jon Hart dominated the line outs and an outstanding performance by the backs, proved to be letal.<

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Torneo Uruguayo 1996

After that the Club played the 1996 official Torneo Uruguayo playing twelve matches, winning eight and losing four (including two to the Champion Carrasco Polo Club), Old Boys finished third after some erratic performances. Juan Carlos Bado was considered the best player of the season.

In Second Divison the Club was runner up, also behind Carrasco Polo, producing some good rugby with the backs and the flankers. Jorge Fertis (prop) was considered the best player of the season

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Tour to England and Wales

After the Uruguayan tournament, in early October, the Club toured England and Wales, playing four matches against the Public School Wandereres (at Slough R.C. in London), Mountain Ash R.C. (in Cardiff), Blackheath R.C. (London) and Leicester Tigers (at Leicester).

The tour was a great success with twenty two players coached by Dr. Juan Martín Stefani and managed by Ing. José Obes and Mauricio Crosa.

After defeats against Public School Wanderes (35-44) and Mountain Ash (17-19) there were two great wins against Blackheath (43-20) and Leicester Tigers Development (42-36 ). Once again outstanding play by the backs and fierce tackles from the forwards, proved good for "la Academia". Juan Andrés Pérez was considered man of the tour, jointly with great performances of lock Juan Bautista Bado, 5/8 Manuel Reyes and winger Alfonso Cardoso.

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Argentinian Sevens

Back to Uruguay, the Club participated, with 132 clubs from Southamerica, in the Sevens of the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires. Two fijian players were now playing for the Club: Benji Vunisalevu and Opeti Turuva.

With them plus José Viana, Guido Clerici, Federico Salveraglio, Carlos Rodríguez, César Cat (c) and Manuel Reyes, coached by Alfredo Invernizzi, the team won all the pool matches (against Universitario de Rosario, Almafuerte de Buenos Aires and Palermo Bajo de Cordoba) to qualify for the final stage in the Club Atlético San Isidro.

In day two the club defeated Club Atlético San Isidro B first, Logaritmo de Rosario (second) and lost to Newman in quarter finals (7-19). Newman, with a great team (including internationals Viel Temperley and Irarazaval) prove to be too strong for the Old Boys which had lost Juan Carlos Bado and José Viana (harmstring) in the first match of day two.

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Uruguayan Sevens

After that the Club played the official National First Division Uruguayan Sevens, with three teams: Old Boys Banco de Boston, Old Boys Mastercard and Old Boys Cafe Misterio.

After the first round only six teams remained playing for the Gold Cup. Three of them were from the Old Boys Club.

The final match was played by the Old Boys Club Banco de Boston and Carrasco Polo Club. Despite a bad beginning (0-12) with a great comeback the Old Boys Club won the match and the tournament 26 - 19.

Two top class touchdowns from winger Alfonso Cardoso, plus superb rugby of his brother Santiago Cardoso (half back) was enough to win a tough match. The team, coached by Alfredo Invernizzi, was: Pablo Hardoy (c), Juan A. Pérez, Felipe Cat, Guido Clerici, Santiago Cardoso, Manuel Reyes, Gabriel Alonso, Alfonso Cardoso and Carlos Rodríguez.

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Montevideo Night Sevens

After that the club played the Montevideo Night Sevens with a team without six of its best players, because they had been called for the National Uruguayan team which is preparing to play the Rugby World Cup Qualifying Round Sevens.

The Old Boys team, captained and coached by César Cat, and with Guido Clerici, Pablo Hardoy, Francisco Reyes, Pedro Rodríguez, Juan Manuel Gutiérrez, Gabriel Alonso, Carlos Rodríguez, Alvaro Fulquet and Alejandro Leindekar, won the tournament against all predictions.

They defeated Zebras (Argentina) by 34-0, San Isidro Lomas (Uruguay) 35-0, Club Atlético San Isidro (Argentina) 47-0, and the Uruguayan National team in the final 10-7. It was a strange sensation for many of the club members and players, because the coach of the National team was Alfredo Invernizzi (club coach) and Felipe Cat and Juan Andrés Pérez played for Uruguay against their club.

A great 1996 end of season.

1997 Season

Next season will include the Fiji Sevens in March, the Southamerican Club Championship in March/April, the Uruguayan Torneos Apertura and Uruguayo, a tour to the South of France, and the Argentinian, Uruguayan, Corrientes and Montevideo Sevens.

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