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Argentina has suffered a blow ahead of the Rugby Championship. Starting second-rower Tomás Lavanini will miss the tournament. Confirmation of his non-availability came from his club, the Leicester Tigers.
The Leicester Tigers confirmed that Lavanini will undergo surgery on a syndesmosis injury. The injury was sustained during the Tigers’ recent European Challenge Cup semi-final loss against Toulon.
Lavanini was injured in the final minutes of the match. He was assisted from the field by medical staff. The Leicester Tigers expect the Argentine work-horse to be available again in late December.
The 27-year-old has been a Puma since 2013. He made his debut against Uruguay in April. His first Rugby Championship appearance was in August 2013 against South Africa. It came at the age of 20. Since then he has been a permanent member of the roster and has earned 56 test caps.
Th most recent of Lavanini’s caps was in RWC 2019. The second-rower was red carded for a dangerous tackle on England captain Owen Farrell. He started both RWC 2019 and RWC 2015 alongside Guido Petti. Matías Alemanno was the understudy second-rower to the pair. All three now play in Europe.
Alemanno and Petti moved to Europe during 2020. Both departed Los Jaguares due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lavanini departed in 2019. The players represent three of the seven second-rowers on Mario Ledesma’s watch-list for the Rugby Championship. The others are Ignacio Calas (Jaguares), Rodrigo Fernández Criado (Ceibos), Marcos Kremer (Jaguares), and Lucas Paulos (Jaguares).
Kremer has played mainly at flanker for Argentina. He was the starting no 7 for Los Jaguares and Los Pumas throughout 2019. Like Alemanno, and Petti, Kremer moved to France in 2020. Calas, Fernández Criardo and Paulos are all uncapped.
