Eliseo Nicolás Branca (born 20 September 1957 in Hurlingham) is a former Argentine rugby union player. He played as a lock. After leaving his local club, his entire career has been with Club Atlético San Isidro CASI, where he was a player for 27 years, and then a coach.

Career

Hailing from Hurlingham, in the

Buenos Aires province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

, Branca started his career in the local club Curupaytí. He later moved to

Club Atlético San Isidro The Club Atlético de San Isidro (mostly known for its acronym CASI) is an Argentine sports club based in the city of San Isidro in Greater Buenos Aires. Originally established as a football club, San Isidro has gained recognition for its rugby ...

in 1973, with the club, where which he became the captain, and won three URBA titles; the most recent of which, in 1985, was the last won by the club in 20 years. Branca debuted for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 1976, at Montevideo against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, although they were more relevant, they were not recognised as full international, three end-of-the-year matches, being one against a Wales XV and two against an

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

XV on tour in South America. He won the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

South American Rugby Championships, then, Branca took part with his country at the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

, where he played all the 3 pool stage matches against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

; he also won the

1989 South American Rugby Championship The 1989 South American Rugby Championship was the 16th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America. The tournament was played in Montevideo and won by Argentina. Standings : Results

and in 1990, he ended his international career at Buenos Aires, with a win against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 2000 he also ended his club career, after 27 years in the team; he also won a

Nacional de Clubes The Torneo Nacional de Clubes is a club rugby union competition in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR). The Nacional de Clubes is the main club competition in Argentine rugby, being contested by a total of 16 teams, 8 from Bue ...

. Moving to the coaching career, he led CASI to the conquest of the URBA tournament in 2005 at the end of a final won against the city rivals San Isidro; due to disagreements with the management, he left the main team at the start of 2006 to then resume in the next season. Later, besides coaching the youth team, he is also consultant, since 2009, for the Municipal Rugby School for San Isidro municipality.Kick Off para la Escuela Municipal de Rugby
/ref>

Notes

External links

* 1957 births Living people Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine rugby union players Rugby union locks Argentina international rugby union players Br {{argentina-rugbyunion-bio-stub