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Argentine back-rower Tomás Leonardí is tipped to play for the Sunwolves, Japan’s new Super Rugby franchise debuting in the 2016 competition. Americas Rugby News has been told that the player is expected to be announced in the coming days together with USA flanker Andrew Durutalo and the entire player roster.
Now aged 28 Leonardí remains a wider squad member option for Los Pumas. He played 18 tests for Argentina from 2008-2013, when Santiago Phelan was the head coach, scoring a try against Australia on the Gold Coast. Under Daniel Hourcade Leonardí is yet to feature at all but in playing Super Rugby he will be eligible for international duty unlike players contracted to European clubs.
Leonardí debuted against Chile in 2008 and started against England in 2009. The test match at Twickenham was one in which Argentina was suffering from an injury crisis resulting in him joining Alejandro Abadie and captain Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe in the back-row while Alejandro Campos covered from the bench.
Of them only Leonardí remains a possibility for future international duty and a return to Super Rugby would boost his chances. Having featured in the first Rugby Championship in 2012 as a replacement, Leonardí subsequently signed for the Southern Kings to play in the 2013 Super Rugby competition.
The team lasted just one season before losing a relegation battle with the Lions which resulted in Leonardí continuing his professional career in Scotland. He played for Edinburgh until 2015, joining Toulouse as a medical joker during this year’s Rugby World Cup.
His decorated career could now see him becoming the third Argentine player to play in Japan. Those to previously have played in Japan are Tomás Vallejos Cinalli and Federico Boffi. Of them the former played in a Rugby World Cup, doing so in 2011.
