El Salvador national rugby league team

El Salvador
Badge of El Salvador team
Team information
NicknameEl Trueno Azul
Governing body-
Region-
Head coachFredy Salvador Arteaga Figueroa
CaptainAlvaro Alarcon
Most capsEric Orellana
Top try-scorerDaniel Godinez (5)
Top point-scorerAlvaro Alarcon, Daniel Godinez (20)
IRL ranking46th
Team results
First international
 Chile 58–20 El Salvador 
(Sydney, Australia; 31 January 2015)
Biggest win
 Colombia 10-48 El Salvador 
(Rochedale, Brisbane; 21 October 2018)
Biggest defeat
 Chile 58–20 El Salvador 
(Sydney, Australia; 31 January 2015)
World Cup
Appearances0 (first time in -)
Best result-

The El Salvador national rugby league team (Spanish: rugby league equipo nacional de El Salvador), nicknamed El Trueno Azul (English: Blue Thunder), represents El Salvador in rugby league. They had their first international 9's tournament in 2015 in Australia along with Chile in Latin America at the Cabramatta International Nines.[1]

History

Rugby league Has yet to be played on El Salvador soil but efforts are in place to bring rugby league to Central and South America through the Latin Heat Rugby League. In the very first full Latino team 4 Salvadorans were included.[2] After the Latin Heat fielded enough Salvadoran players to make up a Rugby league nines team they entered into the Cabramatta International Nines tournament in 2015.[1]

On 17 October 2015 The El Salvador national rugby league team debuted in the Latino Rugby League Sevens Tournament on 17 October 2015. They finished 1-1.[3]

The El Salvador national rugby league team entered the 2016 Cabramatta International Nines on 30 January with a 15-man squad. Their pool consisted of Ireland, DV Koori and Malta.[4][5][6]

On 11 June 2016 The Trueno Azul made their full 13-a-side debut playing latino rivals Chile at Henson Park, Sydney. El Salvador lost 58-20.

Current squad

The El Salvador national team selected for the 2016 Cabramatta International Nines tournament were:

Other Nat. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Pts
Australia Wing Javier Alarcon (1995-07-20) 20 July 1995 3 0
Australia Wing Eric Orellana (1991-06-03) 3 June 1991 8 0
Australia Centre,Second-row Michael Alarcon (1995-02-14) 14 February 1995 5 4
Australia Centre,Wing Michael Zamora-Rivera (1991-06-19) 19 June 1991 3 0
Australia Five-eighth Miguel Gonzalez (1990-08-31) 31 August 1990 3 4
Australia Halfback Alvaro Alarcon (1991-02-21) 21 February 1991 5 20
Australia Prop Fredy Artega Figueroa (1981-03-22) 22 March 1981 5 6
Australia Prop JC Mendez (1993-01-29) 29 January 1993 5 0
Australia Prop Josh Guzman (1998-09-01) 1 September 1998 8 0
Australia Prop Roque-Joel Perez Mejia (1988-12-13) 13 December 1988 6 0
Australia Hooker Ronnie Rivas (1983-06-18) 18 June 1983 6 0
Australia Second-row Walter Godinez (1974-11-23) 23 November 1974 8 0
USA Second-row Edgar Ayala (1992-08-28) 28 August 1992 3 0
Australia Second-row Junior Alarcon (1997-07-31) 31 July 1997 5 4
Australia Lock Daniel Godinez (1985-03-31) 31 March 1985 6 20

Competitive record

Below is table of the representative rugby league nines matches played by El Salvador up until 12 October 2015:[7]

Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn Win % For Aga Diff
 American Samoa 1 - 1 - 0% 4 46 -42
 Chile 1 - 1 - 0% 20 34 -14
 Malta 1 - 1 - 0% 4 30 -26
 Niue 1 - 1 - 0% 10 24 -14
 Thailand 1 - 1 - 0% 10 20 -10
 Uruguay 1 1 0 - 100% 22 14 8
Total 5 1 4 - 17.667% 70 164 -98

The following is a table of full 13-a-side test matches.

Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn Win % For Aga Diff
 Chile 1 - 1 - 0% 20 58 -38
 Uruguay 1 - 1 - 0% 46 10 36
Total 1 0 1 - 0% 20 58 -38

IRL Rankings

Official rankings as of December 2025
Rank Change Team Pts %
1 Steady  Australia 100
2 Steady  New Zealand 82
3 Steady  England 74
4 Steady  Samoa 56
5 Steady  Tonga 54
6 Steady  Papua New Guinea 47
7 Steady  Fiji 34
8 Steady  France 24
9 Steady  Cook Islands 24
10 Steady  Serbia 23
11 Steady  Netherlands 22
12 Steady  Ukraine 21
13 Steady  Wales 18
14 Steady  Ireland 17
15 Steady  Greece 15
16 Steady  Malta 15
17 Steady  Italy 11
18 Steady  Jamaica 9
19 Increase 1  Poland 7
20 Increase 1  Lebanon 7
21 Increase 1  Norway 7
22 Decrease 3  United States 7
23 Steady  Germany 7
24 Steady  Czech Republic 6
25 Steady  Chile 6
26 Increase 1  Philippines 5
27 Increase 1  Scotland 5
28 Decrease 2  South Africa 5
29 Increase 1  Canada 5
30 Decrease 1  Brazil 3
31 Increase 1  Morocco 3
32 Increase 1  North Macedonia 3
33 Increase 1  Argentina 3
34 Increase 1  Montenegro 3
35 Increase 4  Ghana 2
36 Decrease 5  Kenya 2
37 Increase 3  Nigeria 2
38 Decrease 2  Albania 1
39 Decrease 2  Turkey 1
40 Decrease 2  Bulgaria 1
41 Increase 1  Cameroon 0
42 Increase 1  Japan 0
43 Increase 1  Spain 0
44 Decrease 3  Colombia 0
45 Steady  Russia 0
46 Steady  El Salvador 0
47 Steady  Bosnia and Herzegovina 0
48 Steady  Hong Kong 0
49 Steady  Solomon Islands 0
50 Steady  Vanuatu 0
51 Steady  Hungary 0
52 Steady  Latvia 0
53 Steady  Denmark 0
54 Steady  Belgium 0
55 Steady  Estonia 0
56 Steady  Sweden 0
57 Steady  Niue 0
Complete rankings at
www.internationalrugbyleague.com

See also

References

  1. ^ a b NRL. "Cabra 9s Results - NSWRL". nswrl.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  2. ^ "Salvadoran brothers will turn up heat | The Courier Mail".
  3. ^ "Latin Heat Rugby League | Latino Rugby League Festival for Sydney". latinheatrl.com. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  4. ^ "Six New Nations To Light Up Cabramatta Nines - NSWRL".
  5. ^ "South America emerges as international force - NRL".
  6. ^ "PM - Latin American rugby league players dream big 01/02/2016".
  7. ^ "Chile claim inaugural Latino Sevens tournament - Asia Pacific Rugby League". Archived from the original on 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2015-11-10.