Esteban Inostroza, the Condor who became a rugby player thanks to a medical prescription

Despite the fact that he always had natural conditions to stand out in the rugby , Esteban “Samu” Inostroza (29 years old, 1.85 meters and 129.2 kilos) arrived at the discipline by chance. Due to cramps he had experienced when he was in third grade, he went to see a doctor. The professional, seeing his physical constitution, recommended him to play sports. And not just anyone: in one recipe, he put three possible clubs where he could learn from the oval.

A series of seemingly unrelated events opened the door for him on a path that now puts him 14 days away from making his Rugby World XV debut. The first to which Chile goes.

This anecdote is only the first of a singular story within the Condors and it is that the Samu does not represent the usual profile of a rugby player. He grew up in Maipú and played his first game when he was about to come of age. He studied gastronomy and still works today in a company that makes granola. He has been living since 2021 in a hut inside the High Performance Center and for seven years he has kept the same haircut for an order he made with a friend.

“At the beginning, I never thought of becoming a professional in rugby. For me it was a hobby. It was time to disconnect what the week was about,” Inostroza admits to El Deportivo.

This reality quickly changed when, less than two years after making his debut for Húsares, he began training with the national team. I trained at 6:30 in the morning at Prince of Wales Country Club, then he went to work and later in the afternoon he went to CAR to join the Condors. “I never felt like a sacrifice, because it was something I looked forward to, but I think it helped me understand what high performance is. You have to put things aside, focus on rest, take care of your time, ”he admits.

The effort and the mentality were worth it, because Inostroza is among the nominees to represent Chile in France. “It was a very anxious time. I lost more hair than I had already lost. Pablo (Lemoine) told us a few days before the game against Namibia and it was a little relaxed, but with a lot of emotions. Joy, a little anger, a lot of mixed emotions when they say your own name,” he recalled the day he found out he would be there.

He arrives at the event with his distinctive hairstyle. Completely shaved, but with a streak behind it, the cut has been with him since 2017, when he proposed for a friend who suffered from a complex medical condition. “It got better and I have to spend 10 years with this lock,” he admits.

Asked about the motivations that lead him to keep the said promise, he expresses no doubt. “I try to be consistent with the things I promise,” he reflects.

“This whole group has this thought. I feel that I am someone who tries to achieve his goals and in the group the boys were very convinced of what they wanted. I joined, I continued and I left to go as far as possible. In my opinion, the goal has always been to qualify for the World Cup,” adds the chef, who says he prefers sweet to savory, although he tried his luck a few years ago with a food cart in Maipú.

Finally, the conversation revolves around the importance for rugby to open its doors to new spaces. “Now we see more children from the region, from different municipalities. They no longer belong to the typical category of before. So I think the federation has done a great job in that regard. There is rugby from Arica to Punta Arenas. But it still takes time for it to be more popular, for it to reach more strata. We must aspire to have rugby balls in schools, which can be played during recess, ”he mentions before saying goodbye.