Up to this point in history a Mexican stand-off was better known as a reference to an unresolved dispute rather than anything to do with rugby.  However, a Spanish-born rugby coach, once mentored by All Blacks legend Brian Williams, is doing his best to change that in a football-mad country.

Ruben Duque has overseen a dramatic upturn in the fortunes of the Mexican rugby team since taking charge at the end of 2012. Last month, Las Serpenties (The Snakes) broke into the World Rugby Rankings’ top 50 for the first time after a 32-3 victory over 2014 champions Guyana saw them capture their maiden Rugby Americas North Championship title.

Duque is immensely proud of Mexico’s transformation from also-rans to Rugby World Cup contenders. The winner of this Saturday’s play-off against Sudamérica Rugby B champions Colombia, another emerging force in the region, will advance to the next stage of the RWC 2019 qualification process and a game against the lowest ranked Sudamérica Rugby A Championship team Paraguay next month.

“The win against Guyana generated a lot of interest within the country. The leading national newspaper devoted a whole page to rugby, and they were excitably talking about the dream of us getting to the World Cup being a step closer,” revealed Duque.

“For those of us who have been involved in rugby for a long time, we know that getting to Japan in 2019 will be very hard; we are ranked 48th and only 20 teams can go,” said Duque.

“But we have got further than we’ve ever got before and to get the level of exposure that we’ve been enjoying is great.”

TOUGH CHALLENGE

Mexico will need to overturn a 62-24 loss to Colombia two years ago if they are to progress any further on the road to Japan.

“The Colombia team we’ll face next Saturday is more or less the same as the one that beat us by 40-odd points,” Duque said.

“Colombia have just won their third consecutive Championship and, in my opinion, they are of a similar standard to Paraguay.

“It is going to be tough, as they are very aggressive at the breakdown, and it’ll be interesting to see if the closeness between us in the rankings (Colombia are seven places higher in 42nd) is reflected by the result.

“What I don’t want our players to do is relax just because we have beaten Guyana. We want to be better every time we step out onto the pitch, and after watching Colombia’s recent game against Venezuela, I feel we have a chance to win.”

WELL TRAVELLED

Coaching can often be a game of snakes and ladders but, despite his team’s nickname, Duque’s career has had more ups than downs.

Before taking on the Mexico job, Duque had a spell with the Federación Española de Rugby as technical director and age-grade international coach as well as coaching Ponsonby on a 14-month stopover in New Zealand.

“I went to New Zealand to broaden my knowledge and experience, and whilst I was there I coached at Ponsonby and got my Level 3 badge. Brian Williams, who was technical director at the time, helped me a lot.”

Duque’s passion for the game is clear for all to see. Slowly but surely, his adopted country is starting to feel the same way about rugby.

“More and more boys and girls are playing rugby in Mexico, and now they have a national team to be proud of and to be inspired by.

“It is all down to the hard work of the community coaches, the players, the referees and the volunteers.

“In Mexico City, universities are now starting run rugby programmes and offer scholarships and supported living. The future of rugby in Mexico looks good.”