Inaki Basauri (born 1 October 1984) is a Mexico-born former American

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who played most of his career in the

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

Career

Early career

Basauri first started playing rugby when he was 15 and was invited to a practice by his friend. Inaki graduated from Walt Whitman High School in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

in 2002. Throughout high school, he played rugby sevens with the

Maryland Exiles The Maryland Exiles were an American rugby union team in Bethesda, Maryland which competed as a member of Division I under the USA Rugby governing body. The team fielded both a standard 15-man squad and seven-a-side squad. The team competed abroad ...

in the summer and varsity football in the fall. He played for the U-19 National Team at age 16 and vice-captained the USA U-19 Tour to France for the World Championships. After the France U-19 World Championships, he was recruited by Massy to play for their U-21 Team.

Professional career

At 23, he played professionally for

SU Agen Sporting Union Agen Lot-et-Garonne (), commonly referred to as SU Agen, Agen () or SUALG, is a French professional rugby union club based in Agen, Lot-et-Garonne that competes in the Pro D2, France's second division of rugby. Founded in 1908, A ...

in France and was the youngest starter of the team. He also played in Italy for the

L'Aquila Rugby L'Aquila Rugby 1936 was an Italian rugby union club based in L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo. The official colours of the club were black and green, the colours of the city of L'Aquila. The club went into liquidation and disbanded in 2018. Hi ...

club in the

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

competition. Having previously played in France with

CA Lannemezan CA Lannemezan (french: Cercle amical lannemezanais) is a French rugby union club based in Lannemezan in the Hautes-Pyrénées department. It will join the second level of French professional rugby, Pro D2, in the upcoming 2009–10 season after w ...

and CA Perigueux. Basauri returned with

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

in the

where he made 47 appearances over three years. In July 2015 Basauri signed a contract with Stade Nantais of the Fédérale 2. Basauri was also a member of the USA

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

and

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

squads.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Basauri, Inaki 1984 births Living people American rugby union players American sportspeople of Mexican descent Mexican emigrants to the United States United States international rugby union players American expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Expatriate rugby union players in France American expatriate sportspeople in France American expatriate sportspeople in Italy Mexican rugby union players American people of Basque descent Mexican people of Basque descent Walt Whitman High School (Maryland) alumni Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby players CA Lannemezan players RC Massy players SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne players L'Aquila Rugby players CA Périgueux players