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French club Bordeaux Bègles are set to unveil the signing of a Puma from Gloucester. Mariano Galarza is being recruited by the Top 14 club from the English Premiership as a replacement for Australian Luke Jones who is to return home for the 2019 Super Rugby season. Galarza is to join with immediate effect.
Jones is to depart Bordeaux in December with Galarza arriving at the club as his replacement. Galarza has been playing for Gloucester since 2014. He joined the West Country side from rivals the Worcester Warriors and also previously played in Ireland for Leinster.
Now aged 31, Galarza is very much in the frame to play in a third Rugby World Cup. The 25-time capped Puma played in three matches in RWC 2011 and Argentina’s opening match in RWC 2015.
He joined Matiás Alemanno, Tomás Lavanini, and Guido Petti as Daniel Hourcade’s second-rowers at RWC 2015. The same three players remain the specialists with Marcos Kremer being the newcomer since then. He has established himself as one of Argentina’s starting flankers together with Pablo Matera.
Within Argentina there are presently no other capped second-rowers. Galarza is one of three playing in Europe together with Manuel Carizza (Lyon) and Juan Cruz Guillemaín (Viadana). Of them Galarza is the best placed to be considered for further international honors.
Argentina Head Coach Mario Ledesma has trained with uncapped players in his rosters. They include Ignacio Calas, Ignacio Larrague, Lucas Paulos, and Jerónimo Ureta. These and other homebred players are realistically options for Los Pumas for the following RWC cycle. For 2019 Galarza and Carizza loom as the men to compliment Alemanno, Lavanini, Petti, and Kremer.
