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They have done it. For the first time in history there are Argentine players who have wins against every Tier 1 Opponent. Rugby’s Tier 1 refers to the four teams that compete in the Rugby Championship (Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa), and the six members of the Six Nations (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales).
Argentina’s November 2022 win over England in London was the completion of the ultimate accomplishment for individual players other than winning a Rugby World Cup. It was historic with Tomás Lavanini, Pablo Matera, Julián Montoya and Matías Moroni now having beaten every other Tier 1 team. They are the first Pumas to do so. All happen to be former Jaguares players and also current or former Leicester Tigers.
All four players featured in both Rugby World Cups 2015 and 2019. They are all likely to play in a third RWC in 2023. Los Pumas went into RWC 2015 on a high. Three of the four aforementioned Pumas featured in Argentina’s historic win over South Africa in 2015 in Durban. Moroni did not play in the 2015 or 2016 wins; instead, he defeated South Africa in 2018.
There are other Pumas who could the list. Emiliano Boffelli and Marcos Kremer require wins over France and Ireland while Matías Alemanno has never beaten France and Agustín Creevy has never beaten England or New Zealand. Juan Imhoff and Nicolás Sánchez have wins against all Tier 1 opposition aside from England. Facundo Isa, who won against England, has beaten all teams aside from New Zealand.
The following table lists the first win that each of the four players had against every individual Tier 1 rival. It is followed by details of Argentina’s most recent wins against all Tier 1 opponents. Pablo Matera captained Argentina in the 2022 series decider against Scotland. Montoya had led Los Pumas in the first and second test matches.
| PLAYER | AU | EN | FR | IE | ITA | NZ | SC | ZA | WA |
| T Lavanini | 2014 | 2022 | 2014 | 2015 | 2013 | 2022 | 2022 | 2015 | 2021 |
| P Matera | 2018 | 2022 | 2016 | 2015 | 2013 | 2020 | 2022 | 2015 | 2021 |
| J Montoya | 2018 | 2022 | 2016 | 2015 | 2016 | 2020 | 2022 | 2015 | 2021 |
| M Moroni | 2018 | 2022 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2022 | 2022 | 2018 | 2021 |
AU: Australia; EN: England; FR: France; IE: Ireland; IT: Italy; NZ: New Zealand: ZA: South Africa: SC: Scotland; WA: Wales
ENGLAND (2022)
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Jerónimo De La Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Mateo Carreras, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Eliseo Morales, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Matías Orlando
AUSTRALIA (2022)
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Goméz Kodela, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Juan Imhoff, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Facundo Isa, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Lucio Cinti
NEW ZEALAND (2022)
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Lucio Cinti, 12 Matías Orlando, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Santiago Cordero
SCOTLAND (2022)
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera (capt.), 7 Santiago Grondona, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Juan Martín González, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Lucio Cinti
ITALY (2021)
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Marcos Kremer, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Emiliano Boffelli
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Lucio Cinti
WALES (2021)
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Facundo Isa, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Santiago Chocobares, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Santiago Carreras
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lavanini, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Juan Imhoff
SOUTH AFRICA (2018)
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Juan Figallo, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Emiliano Boffelli
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 23 Juan Cruz Mallía
FRANCE (2016)
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Ramiro Herrera, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Tomás Lezana, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15, Joaquín Tuculet
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Ignacio Larrague, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano
IRELAND (2015)
1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Ramiro Herrera, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Juan Imhoff, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Joaquín Tuculet
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 23 Lucas González Amorosino
