Guillermo Storace, his son and the quest for World Under 20 Trophy

Uruguay are on the cusp of joining the big boys’ club if they beat Spain in the final of the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy at Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday from 4pm.

The two teams faced off two months ago when Spain humbled the hosts, Uruguay, 35–11 at Charrùa Stadium in Montevideo.

Uruguay’s journey to the final of the Under-20 Trophy has been laboured. They almost lost their opening match against the United States of America, narrowly winning 33–31.

The winning try was scored in the closing stages of the clash when substitute Dante Soto touched down to level the scores. Then the onus was on Canessa Michelini to secure the win with the resultant conversion from a difficult angle, and he delivered.

Uruguay, who won the inaugural edition in 2008 and finished third twice in 2015 and 2017, found their rhythm against Zimbabwe. The Junior Sables soaked more than half a century of points losing, 51–14 to their South American rivals.

One of Uruguay’s try scorers in that victory was Guillermo Juan Storace — a centre with an eye for the try-line. He is the son of Uruguay’s head coach Guillermo Storace.

Juan was one of Uruguay’s heroes. He scored one of the team’s four tries as they stunned pre-tournament favourites Scotland 37–26 in a pulsating clash to top Pool “A”.

Scotland who dropped to the second tier after being knocked out by Fiji in the World Rugby Under 20 Championship, will sit out another season away from the tournament that has the top 12 teams in the World.

Coach Guillermo heaped praise on his team for frustrating their Scottish opponents.

“When we came here (in Nairobi) we had prepared first for the USA and then Zimbabwe. Then game after game and the last game against Scotland. It’s a very good team but we had good players,” he said.

Juan said that their territorial game worked to their advantage despite being reduced to 14 men twice in the match due to constant infractions.

“I think we had a good game plan, we kicked long, we tackled low, and when we had the ball we were dangerous.

“It feels really good, we were pretty emotional about that game, we were very united in the dressing room, all together, we were prepared for it they were not going to surprise us, “ he told Nation Sport at the RFUEA grounds during their penultimate training session ahead of the final.

Juan plays for the Old Corinthians, a club based in Montevideo. He has also featured for Penarol in the Super Rugby America which mirrors the Super Rugby involving franchise teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, and most recently Japan, Fiji, and Samoa.

Juan's love for rugby was nurtured by his father who played for the Uruguayan junior team from 1991 – 1993. He was also in the men’s senior team which played at the World Cup in 1999 and 2003.

When asked about coaching his son, Guillermo Senior - who played as a forward for the national team - breaks into a hearty laughter.

“It’s a nice experience to coach him.”

Juan has a strong bond with his father. He knows that he has to work equally hard to maintain his position in the team.

“Before being a coach, he’s a father so we talk about family and life. He’s my father and my coach, he was the director of my school when I was three years old, there is not much of a surprise him being here."

“We take the relationship apart(sic) when we play, I like it, it’s a good experience with him.”

Juan has also devised a peculiar way of addressing his father while he is on the field by calling him by his first name.

“I always call him Guillermo because I don’t want to call him dad, it’s his name. I call him Guillermo always so there is no mistake.”

Playing for Los Teritos is a golden opportunity to audition for the senior men’s team - Los Teros.

Historically, at least 80 players who’ve progressed to the men’s team have featured for the junior team.

Uruguay’s captain at the 2019 World Cup in Japan Juan Manuel Gaminara featured for the Under 20 team in 2008 when they beat hosts Chile in Santiago.

The senior men’s head coach Esteban Meneses, who is preparing for the Rugby World Cup in France, will only consider the current crop of juniors if absolutely necessary after selecting his 46-man provisional squad. Injuries within the current unit could open the door for some of the youngsters.

“I know it’s ( World Cup) there, I know they are watching us, our opportunity and our chance is here, and we want to play here, and we are not thinking about anything that is not Spain," Juan said.

In France, Uruguay is grouped with two-time champions New Zealand, the hosts Les Bleus, Italy, and Namibia.

Juan, just like the other members of the team, are homesick. They’ve been away from their families  for an extended period of time. Traveling to Kenya has been a learning experience.

“It has been a great experience, the hotel is beautiful the only thing we miss about Uruguay is food and our families because we are not used to eating food with so much condiment, so much seasoning, but It’s amazing here we didn’t know the culture here."

"In Uruguay there is a culture of eating meat, there is a recipe that is called Milanesa, which is like fried meat between breadcrumbs. There is not much of it here, maybe fried fish or fried meat,“ he added.

Uruguay and all the other seven participating nations have been allocated security oficers to ensure their safety once they arrived in Kenya towards the end of June. The armed police officers are always within sight as the players go through their paces.

“We aren’t used to this kind of security,“ another member of the team’s technical bench told Nation Sport.

The winner of the World Rugby Under 20 trophy will earn promotion to the World Under 20 Championship.