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Martín Landajo is set to make history. The 29-year-old is set to overtake Agustín Pichot to become Argentina’s most capped scrum-half of all-time. Landajo is to play from the bench against New Zealand, doing so with Tomás Cubelli starting.
Landajo made his test debut in November 2008. He did so against Chile as one of nine debutants. His next test cap would come against Uruguay in May 2010, the match also seeing his earn his first test start.
Following appearances against Brazil, Chile and Uruguay in 2012 Landajo broke into the senior roster. He would play June Internationals against Italy and France and be named in the squad for the inaugural Rugby Championship.
Having been back-up to Nicolás Vergallo for rounds one to three, Landajo would overtake Vergallo and start in the final three rounds. This included scoring an impressive try against New Zealand in La Plata. Since then he has been a mainstay in the squad, remarkably appearing in every subsequent test match for the senior roster.
Of his 71 test caps, 50 have been as the starting scrum-half. He and Cubelli have been the leading players throughout the Rugby Championship era. Cubelli will earn his 61st cap on Saturday, doing so in what is to be his 23rd start.
Agustín Pichot earned 71 caps. The former Pumas captain started in 69 of these matches. His caps were earned over a longer period, covering four Rugby World Cups. His first cap was in 1995 and his final was the Bronze Medal winning performance over France in 2007.
Pichot scored 12 tries for Argentina. This is one more than that of Cubelli. Landajo has scored 6, or half as many as Pichot. If Cubelli is able to score two more in his next 11 appearances then he would have a superior scoring record than that of Pichot. He would also do so with notably fewer starts.
On the all-time list, Landajo overtakes not only Pichot but also Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe. He also earned 71 caps for Los Pumas. Game time in New Plymouth will thereby make Landajo the 7th most capped Puma in history.
The most capped Puma is Felipe Contepomi with 87 caps. Others ahead of Landajo are Lisandro Arbizu and Rolando Martín (86), Mario Ledesma (84), Juan Manuel Leguizamón and Pedro Sporleder (78) and Federico Mendez (73).
