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The Toronto Arrows have unveiled Argentine international Manuel Montero in their latest batch of signings for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. Standing 6’4″ (1.94m) and weighing in the neighborhood of 235lbs (107kg), ‘La Pantera’ is an imposing winger who takes the place of retiring captain Dan Moor on the Arrows roster.
Montero exploded onto the scene straight out of Argentina’s u20 program. After a brief and dominant stay with Los Pumas on the World Sevens Series he made his test debut against Uruguay in May of 2012. A torrid run with 14 tries in 21 tests ended with a serious knee injury that knocked Montero out of Rugby World Cup 2015.
He returned in style the following June with tries against Italy and France, but injuries continued to be a problem and Montero’s test run would end in September 2017 against Australia. A lengthy recovery period followed and by 2018 he was back in form with club side Pucará and recalled to the Argentina training squad.
Despite impressing with the Argentina XV, a plethora of young talent was now in place for Los Pumas and the Jaguares. He instead opted to play for the Olímpia Lions earlier this year in the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby, scoring a try in the only game before the season was suspended.
Now 28 years old, Montero now makes the jump to MLR. He joins an impressive list of South Americans in Toronto that also includes fellow Argentines Gastón Cortes, Tomás de la Vega, and Juan Cruz González, and Uruguayan trio Manuel Diana, Leandro Leivas, and Gastón Cortes.
