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Leicester Tigers have recruited an Argentine scrum-half as a Medical Joker. Hindú’s Felipe Ezcurra is set to join this week in a move to provide cover with Ben Youngs having minor injury complications.
His move to Leicester will be is first opportunity of playing professional rugby in Europe. His contract is for three months and sees him departing Argentina on Friday.
In becoming a Leicester Tigers, Felipe Ezcurra will not feature in the upcoming Americas Pacific Challenge. He was to play for the Argentina XV in next month’s competition in Montevideo. Instead coaches Ignacio Fernández Lobbe and Diego Ternavasio will look to replace him.
Ezcurra has been a regular for the Argentina XV. With Martín Landajo and Tomás Cubelli having been the top scrum-halves from 2012-2017 opportunities at scrum-half for others were limited for both Los Jaguares and Los Pumas.
This changed with Mario Ledesma. He altered the hierarchy for both teams with Gonzalo Bertranou becoming the first choice player. In 2016-2017 Bertranou and Felipe Berchesi were understudies to Martín Landajo at Los Jaguares while Cubelli played for the Brumbies.
Aged 25, Ezcurra has three caps for Argentina. They both came in 2014 with him facing Chile and Uruguay. His brother, Bautista Ezcurra, is also a Puma. He made his test debut this year against Scotland and currently has 4 test caps. He was involved in the 2018 wins over South Africa and Australia.
In 2018 Felipe Ezcurra has been more involved with Hindú than the Argentina XV. The mid-year activities saw Cubelli featuring heavily for the Argentina XV. It was done as a means of aiding his return following his cervical injury from the 2017 Rugby Championship.
With Bertranou, Landajo, and Cubelli ahead of Felipe Ezcurra the opportunity to join the Leicester Tigers is welcomed. He will be in good company with Argentine props Gastón Cortés, and Facundo Gigena both at the club.
The deal is to be until the end of December and it is understood that he will have the opportunity of staying longer should he impress.
The recruitment comes at a time in which the Leicester Tigers are going through a crisis. After week 1 of the English Premiership season Head Coach Matt O’Connor was released. While this past weekend the team were defeated at home by the Worcester Warriors.
