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Clermont have signed Tomás Lavanini from the Leicester Tigers. The French Top 14 club have signed the Argentine forward on a two-year-deal.
The move is a return to France. Lavanini played for Racing 92 in 2014-2015 before returning to Argentina for Los Jaguares’ inaugural Super Rugby season in 2016. He played Super Rugby in 2016-2019 before joining the Leicester Tigers after RWC 2019. The most recent of his 56 caps was at RWC 2019 itself.
Lavanini debuted for Argentina in 2013 at the age of 20. His third cap came off the bench against South Africa where he made his Rugby Championship debut in Mendoza. The following year saw he and Mariano Galarza being the starting combination under Daniel Hourcade.
From 2015-2019 Lavanini and Guido Petti were the regular combination for both Los Pumas, and Los Jaguares. This was with Matías Alemanno as the regular replacement. However, in 2020, Lavanini missed out on international duty due to injury. Alemanno, Petti, Marcos Kremer, and Lucas Paulos all had starts in the Tri Nations.
Clermont will be a notable change for Lavanini. The Leicester Tigers is presently home to Lavanini and four other Argentine players. Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, Facundo Gigena, Julián Montoya and Matías Moroni are all at the club. In contrast, Clermont presently does not have any Argentine players.
The club has been the home of Pumas in the past. Mario Ledesma and Martín Scelzo were Top 14 champions with Clermont in 2010. Their RWC 1999, 2003, and 2007 teammate, Gonzalo Longo played with them in the 2007 Top 14 final. Alejandro Campos, Agustín Creevy, and Hernán Senillosa are additional Pumas with RWC experience who played for Clermont.
