photo credit: Rodrigo Vergara / UAR

Leguizamón Becomes 5th Most Capped Puma

Argentine Juan Manuel Leguizamón made history today. In featuring from the bench against Australia the No 8 from Santiago del Estero became the 5th most capped Puma of all time.

Aged 34, Leguizamón has been a Puma since 2005. He earned his debut that year against Japan. During his career he has been a permanent fixture in the roster. This has seen him playing in the Marcelo Loffreda, Santiago Phelan and Daniel Hourcade regimes.

All three Head Coaches ha Leguizamón playing for them in their respective Rugby World Cups. Leguizamón started at No 8 in the Rugby World Cup 2007 opening win over France. Eight years later he started in the Bronze Final against South Africa.

Now in the twilight of his career a fourth Rugby World Cup may be one step too far for Leguizamón. Should be continue to earn caps in remaining matches this year alone then he can catch Mario Ledesma. Argentina’s remaining tests in 2017 are one each against Australia, New Zealand, England, Italy and Ireland.

In the event that Leguizamón plays in each remaining match and is also capped in 2018 then he could perceivably become Argentina’s most-capped player. With Argentina blocking European-based players from Los Pumas duty, Leguizamón and other Jaguares have benefited. Argentina’s leading No 8 is Facundo Isa who plays his rugby for Toulon.

1 Felipe Contepomi 87
2 Lisandro Arbizu 86
3 Rolando Martín 86
4 Mario Ledesma 84
5 Juan Manuel Leguizamón 79

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