Sebastian Cancelliere fell in love with Glasgow just as the city’s rugby fans fell in love with him. The active Argentine is approaching his third year at Scotstoun and has been one of the club’s most effective overseas recruits since Gregor Townsend’s reign.
The wings are an average try in every other game, they appear to be made of rubber and Kevlar, punch well above their weight on impact, and have an advantage in all key attack metrics.
Cancelliere, who lives in a sandstone house and leafy garden in the West End, loves her adopted home. He thrived in the exciting Glasgow back line both on and off the field and welcomed his first child with his wife Paz. There is also a flash of Glaswegian in his eloquence. He calls his 7-month-old daughter Joaquina Maria ‘little one’. The ‘r’ is rolled here and there in the way many Scots do.
is an immediate response. @GlasgowWarriors 🤯
Sebastian Cancelliere dances across the whitewash to score points 🕺#BKTURC #URC #GlavSTO pic.twitter.com/RlXGKFuvqv
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) June 8, 2024
“People who visit us from Argentina are surprised that they don’t expect Glasgow to be such a beautiful, green place,” he says. “It’s a great mix of a big city without all the bad stuff. There is no traffic, not many people, and everything is there. Honestly, I love it.
“Yes, it’s June, but it’s still a bit cloudy, rainy, and I’m used to the hot weather. But other than that, it’s a beautiful city with beautiful people. What every family member who comes here tells me is that they are amazed at how nice the people are here.”
Fatherhood solidified Cancelliere’s feelings for the city. He previously called his daughter a ‘little Scottish baby’ but has revised his assessment of her hair follicles. She says she is now blonde.
“It changed my life. It made me softer off the pitch and more aware of how fragile she is because she is so fragile. When she’s not training or competing, she spends 100% of her time staying and playing with that little one.
“It’s difficult being so far away from your family. If there is a game the next day, my wife does most of the hard work. She wakes up at night while I sleep in the other room. She’s amazing and she knows what it’s like to be a professional athlete and how much rest she needs to give herself on the weekends. Especially with how hard we train here. She takes it and gives me 100% support.
“She has been working and playing hockey, so hopefully she can get back to playing next season. I hope she goes back and has some more time for herself.”
My dad is my hero. He’s 64 years old and he’s still playing rugby for his veteran team.
The fourth of five children who grew up in Buenos Aires in a house large enough to accommodate the entire family, Cancelliere has not lost the power of parenting. He has his father, Marcelo, to thank for sparking the two great passions in his life: rugby and engineering. Marcelo set the standard as a patriarch through his care and work ethic. He was a keen amateur athlete and successful industrial engineer.
“My dad is my hero. He and my mother were 100% devoted to me and my siblings. He’s 64 years old and he’s still playing rugby for his veteran team. He is one of the biggest rugby fans I have ever met. He could sit all day and watch rugby, he plays a lot so he understands that perfectly. When I was five my father took me to a rugby match, and when I was a kid I was pretty good. I never stopped playing it, and I never stopped loving it.
“It was a war at home because we had four boys and one girl. I liked it. I have some of the best memories from my childhood. It wasn’t about TV or PlayStation. Luckily for us the possibilities were plentiful, we had a big garden and a local sports club and there was lots of playing outside with my brothers, playing football and rugby. It was great.”
In fact, Cancelliere rejected interest from abroad to stay with the Jaguares franchise and complete his degree. As his rugby career blossomed and he achieved honors in his exams, his studies slowed and it took him almost 10 years to complete the five-year course.
“I had no plans to leave Argentina before the pandemic hit. I was 23 when Puma debuted, and everything got faster. I knew I wanted to complete my degree and that was why I stayed. It was a challenge for me. It’s not about how smart you are, it’s about how willing you are to get it done. I knew I had the will. I wanted to be a PUMA and an industrial engineer, and I knew I could do both.”
A few years later, Cancelliere achieved this ambition, but his thirst for 14 caps remained unsatisfied. He is now sitting half a world away from home, preparing for an intense URC semi-final.
Glasgow travel to Thomond Park to resume one of the league’s fiercest rivalries. Cancelliere has participated in knockout games before. He played in the Super Rugby final and last year’s Challenge Cup final, losing both. There is a toxic mentality that portrays the Scottish team as vulnerable on the biggest stage. Glasgow’s professional job at the Stormers last weekend felt like a major psychological hurdle.
The simmering discontent between the two sides will bubble back to the forefront, stoked by the old Ryan Wilson, Peter O’Mahony and their entourage. Munster have not lost a URC game since January and have lost twice at home all season. Glasgow have lost 10 of their last 11 trips since 2014.
Now we joke about it. They say we were the happiest people on earth and didn’t know it.
“I know it’s a big rivalry and I know how much they hate each other, especially Wilson,” Cancelliere laughs. “I don’t take it personally or focus on history.
“I am aware of all the criticism about the mental aspect. The boys here are mentally tough, ready to win and are a more mature team than last year. We hope that our past experience will enable us to accomplish this task.
“The physics and breakdowns will be huge for us. They have a big Jackal threat and are physical, especially with Tadhg Beirne and RG Snyman. “It would be great if we could be as physical as we were against the Stormers, correct the breakdowns and play smart rugby.”
Were it not for COVID-19, Cancelliere might not be here at all, training in torrential rain in Glasgow as the summer solstice approaches and considering one of the blockbuster performances of his club career.
Jaguars were cruelly set adrift when the plague struck. Forced out of Super Rugby and consigned to second-tier tournaments, the Argentine players were victims of geography. They recruited almost every top Cougar, built a cacophonous fan base and established a winning style of rugby to reach the 2019 finals. Then everything was torn apart.
“All the momentum and team we built,” Cancelliere recalls. “We thought we could beat anyone. Our stadium was becoming a fortress.
“We joke about it now. We say we were the happiest people on earth, but we didn’t know it. Because we were playing for the best team in the world and we were living at home. On a Thursday we could watch an amateur club and have dinner there, go to Mum and Dad’s and have a mate, and on Saturday we could play the Crusaders. Sometimes you take those things for granted and suddenly you don’t have them anymore.
“It was difficult for all of us to go abroad and start a new life from scratch. They told us, ‘This is no longer available. ‘Go and find somewhere else’ and that’s why I came to Glasgow. Me and my wife had another adventure here. I have come to the right place.”
Glasgow’s rugby players would surely agree.
