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Argentine dual-international Bautista Ezcurra has signed with Rugby ATL for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 25-year-old product of the renowned Hindú club in Buenos Aires was most recently on trial at English Premiership club Harlequins before the COVID-19 shutdown struck.
Ezcurra was a two-year participant in the World Rugby u20 Championship before rapidly graduating to the senior Pumas 7s side in 2015. At the end of his first season he was nominated for the World Sevens Series Rookie of the Year and earned a starting position for Argentina at the Rio Olympics.
He then shifted his focus back to XVs, where older brother Felipe was already making his mark. The younger Ezcurra joined Los Jaguares in 2017 and played a dozen Super Rugby matches, then featuring in another 10 the following season. A first test start came against Scotland in June 2018, with the most recent of his 5 caps coming against the New Zealand All Blacks in September of that year.
Earlier this season Ezcurra left the Jaguares with the intention of pursuing a spot at the 2020 Olympics but instead took up the opportunity presented in London. He has now confirmed in an interview with ESPN that he will join ATL in December.
A versatile backfielder, Ezcurra has played both center positions and on the wing, and even on occasion at flyhalf. It’s the midfield that most consider to be his best position and where he will line up in MLR. Co-captain Ryan Nell and Jeremy Misailegalu were the starting centers for Rugby ATL during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
