# El Salvador national rugby union team

The El Salvador national rugby union team (Spanish: rugby union equipo nacional de El Salvador), nicknamed Los Torogoces, represents El Salvador in rugby union. They had their first international tournament in 2011 in Costa Rica along the other teams from Central America, winning the Silver Cup.

## History

El Salvador started playing matches against Guatemalan clubs in 2009, losing 3−85 against Xela and winning 37–11 against Santa Rosa. Consequently, a victory against Xela Rugby Club 17–0, after clinching the second place in the Guatemalan Championship the "Torogoces" prepare 2 teams to give battle in the upcoming championship, which is in this case to bring the 1st place.
El Salvador's coaches are from France and Argentina. Even though rugby is such a young sport in this country, it is opening way within other popular sports. Recently, the Salvadoran Rugby Association (Federacion Salvadorena de Rugby) was recognized as a federation from the local Olympic committee, making it an official recognized sport in El Salvador.
El Salvador played their first international against Costa Rica as part of the 2012 South American Rugby Championship "C". They recorded their first international win, during the 2014 ARC, over Costa Rica. They went on to defeat Panama, which secured their first major tournament victory.

## Record
### Overall

| Against | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | % Won |
| Costa Rica | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 20% |
| Ecuador | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Guatemala | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Honduras | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Nicaragua | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Panama | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25% |
| Total | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 22.22% |

## Leadership
### Coaches

    Alvaro Gorostiza (Esp)
    Juan Carlos Peréz (Esp)

### Board of Directors

* Chairman: Daniel Ola
* Vice chair: Nelson Bolaños
* Treasurer: Diana Diaz
* Secretary: Moisés Nóchez

## Players
### Current players

El Salvador's rugby union team has a mixture of local young athletes with the reinforcement of experienced foreign players. Torogoces now remains as El Salvador's national team, recognized by CONSUR as a member and will participate in south and Central American tournaments under that name. Rugby in this country has evolved and two clubs have been created: Cuscatlan Rugby Club and Santa Tecla Rugby Club, both still participating in the binational club league with Guatemala. Players from both teams will be selected by trainers and the Federacion Salvadorena de Rugby to be part of Torogoces for international tournaments. In September 2013, Cuscatlán Rugby Club became the first Salvadoran team to win the Bi-National League with Guatemala.
Backs :
| Player | Position |
| Adrien Martinez Almansa | Scrum-half |
| Vladimir Salguero | Scrum-half |
| Jorge García Herrera (Cap) | Fly-half |
| Francisco Deras | Fly-half |
| Felipe Flores | Fly-half |
| Oscar Rodriguez | Fly-half |
| Moisés Nóchez | Centre |
| Erick Salas | Centre |
| Oscar Díaz | Centre |
| Roberto Martínez | Centre |
| Jimmy Melara | Centre |
| Jorge Huezo | Centre |
| Raul Arevalo | Wing |
| Jose Gonzalez | Wing |
| Oscar Diaz | Wing |
| Samuel Zelaya | Wing |
| Gerardo Martinez | Wing |
| Mauricio Lazo | Fullback |
| Pablo Guth | Fullback |
| Gerardo Valenzuela | Fullback |
Forwards :
| Player | Position |
| Enrique Angulo | Hooker |
| Pablo Maza | Hooker |
| Diego Albón | Prop |
| Erick Perdomo | Prop |
| Herman Arrua | Prop |
| Joaquín Fuentes | Prop |
| Walter Martinez | Prop |
| Fares Canizalez | Lock |
| Xavier Luna | Lock |
| Napoleón Vargas | Lock |
| Rodrigo Ramirez | Lock |
| Nelson Bolanos | Lock |
| Jorge Cacerés | Lock |
| Victor Carcamo | Flanker |
| Douglas Lopez | Flanker |
| Efraín Hernández | Flanker |
| David Alfaro | Flanker |
| Eduardo Bonilla Solís | Flanker |
| Rafael Ramírez | Flanker |
| Angel Yanes | Flanker |
| Roberto Dubois | Flanker |
| Ricardo Avendano | Number eight |
| Luis Vilanova | Number eight |