Ecuador national rugby league team

History

The sport of rugby league is at its inception and earliest stage of growth in Ecuador. However efforts are being put in place to increase the exposure and participation of rugby league in Central and South America through the Latin Heat Rugby League.

In April 2015, Latin Heat volunteer and ambassador Matthew Brown created a Facebook page called "Ecuador Rugby XIII" to help create interest in starting Rugby League in Ecuador. He also lived in the country for 6 months.

While there, he helped create a partnership between Touch Rugby Ecuador and Ecuador Rugby XIII. Touch Rugby Ecuador is an organisation (mainly made up of expats from Rugby nations) living in Quito, Ecuador and play social games of Touch Rugby ever Saturday at Carolina Park. The basic idea behind the two working together was that because Rugby in general is quite small in Ecuador, the two organisations would work together to encourage native Ecuadorians to try both forms of Rugby.

Later, Matthew also found an interested individual (named Fenrir Rodriguez) who was interested in helping start the sport up. After meeting up for over an hour, Ecuador Rugby XIII finally had a dedicated individual who wanted to start the sport of Rugby League in the Republic of Ecuador.

In October 2015, The Latin Heat were able to recruit enough Ecuadorian players to establish the nation's first ever rugby league team. On Saturday 17 October, the newly established Ecuadorian rugby league team competed in its first international competition - The Latino Rugby League Sevens. The tournament took place at New Era Stadium, Cabramatta.

Although Rugby League is still trying to get started in Ecuador domestically, other Latin nations such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina already play the sport. Along with other efforts to start the game up in countries such as El Salvador, Haiti, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile and Peru, it is hoped that Ecuador can learn from their neighbours and receive support while attempting to further the game on home soil.

Inaugural Team 2015

The following is the Ecuadorian teamed named for the 2015 Latino Sevens.

Scott Correa,

Rodney Garcia (Co-Captain),

Andres Garzon,

Frank Jacome,

Sebastian Jacome,

Jeff Lopez (Co-Captain),

Dahcell Ramos-Malo,

Geovanny Sanchez,

Sandro Sanchez,

Roberto Tacuri,

Juan Torres,

Johnny Vasco

Players for Ecuador to date

Scott Correa, Rodney Garcia (Co-Captain), Andres Garzon, William Gomez, Frank Jacome, Sebastian Jacome, Johnny Liszka, Jeff Lopez (Co-Captain), Dahcell Ramos-Malo, Jay Palese, Johnny Pandilla, Geovanny Sanchez, Sandro Sanchez, Edgar Santamaria, Roberto Tacuri, Juan Torres, Johnny Vasco

Latino Rugby League Sevens Tournament, New Era Stadium (17/10/2015)

Peru vs Ecuador

Peru 28 (Jacob Parker 2, James Goncalves 2, Aaron Perez tries; J Goncalves 2, J Parker, A Perez goals) defeat Ecuador 0. Halftime score: Peru 16-0.

Ecuador vs Colombia

Ecuador 18 (Johnny Vasco 2, Sebastian Jacome, Roberto Tacuri tries; Rodney Garcia goal) defeat Colombia 8 (Sebastian Maya Jimenez, Andres Marino Silva tries). Halftime score: 4-4.

Sevens Match "El Escudo del Sur", Henson Oval (11/06/2016)

Ecuador vs Colombia

Game 1 Ecuador 16 (Jay Pelese 2, Sebastian Jacome 2 tries) defeat Colombia 4 (Norman Lizano try).

Game 2 Colombia 14 (Miguel Henao Velez, Sebastian Maya Jimenez, Norman Lizano tries; Diego Vejerano goal) defeat Ecuador 8 (Johnny Liszka, Edgar Santamaria tries).

Aggregate: ECUADOR 24 defeat COLOMBIA 18.