Rugby is one of the most popular sports of the already sports crazy nation of Paraguay. Rugby union of Paraguay is presently ranked 38th in the world and is ranked 5th in South America. This popular sport in Paraguay has 19 clubs and 4355 registered players.
The national team played their first rugby match in the year 1950. Paraguayan Rugby Union (Union de Rugby del Paraguay) is the governing body for the sport and was established in 1970 which joined IRFB (International Rugby Football Board, now International Rugby Board) in 1989.
Argentina mainly dominates the South American rugby and is famous in southern regions located in Europe. For Paraguay, rugby was established during the World War II and not because of European immigration, as it is wrongly interpreted. Large number of foreign countries made their base in Paraguay to make profits in mining and mineral exploration. Thus, it is not possible to tell which country gave Paraguay, the sport, rugby. The rugby club in Asuncion was initiated by a Dutchman, a businessman from New Zealand, two Britons and two Argentines.
The French took specific involvement in Paraguayan rugby as they provided the team with a coach. Nelson Ayala can be considered as the first famous rugby player in Paraguay, who also played in the British team Saracens F.C., in 1950. This player took the initiatives to develop the game of rugby in his home land. The Club Universitario de Asuncion (CURDA) was a new rugby club that emerged in 1970 and was the first team of Paraguay to tour UK in 1980. After this, twenty new rugby clubs were established, which is steady since ever. Some Paraguayan clubs are very famous and some of them are as follows:
- CURDA
- San José RC
- Old King
- Leones de Encarnación
- Santa Clara
- Asunción RC
- Universidad Autónoma
- Los Cuervos
- Los Jabalíes, Paraná RC.
- Cristo Rey RC
Countries like Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay tour occasionally to Paraguay for rugby tournaments. Paraguay has a women's rugby team which never played a test match rugby, but they are qualified to play in international sevens rugby from 2004.
