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Rodrigo Báez has been forced into early retirement. Aged 29 the flanker from Mendoza has been forced out of rugby through injury. He made the announcement today on his Instagram account.
Báez leaves rugby prematurely, doing so after having been involved in Super Rugby for Los Jaguares in 2016 and 2017. He was a regular under Raúl Pérez though never played under Mario Ledesma who replaced Pérez for the 2018 season.
At international level Báez earned 17 caps for Argentina. He did so from 2010-2017 with his debut coming against Chile in Santiago, a match in which he scored a try. His second cap was also against Chile and again included a try, this time on home soil in Posadas.
He would go on to start in Argentina’s 2014 Rugby Championship victory over Australia, filling-in for the injured Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe. Injury would ultimately are him miss out on being considered for RWC 2015 and his only cap post 2014 would come against Georgia in Jujuy in 2017.
His rise to the top saw him becoming an early graduate from the PladAR system. Having played for Argentina at both U19’s and U20’s, Báez went on to play for Cuyo at provincial level, the Pampas XV and the Argentina XV. He was captain of the Argentina XV prior to being relieved of duty due to his involvement with Los Jaguares.
