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Rodrigo Martínez is returning to the UK from Argentina. The Puma left the defunct English Premiership club the Wasps to play Super Rugby Americas for Los Pampas. He has now secured his playing future at the Dragons in East Wales. Martínez will play in the United Rugby Championship (URC) for the Welsh region.
Martínez moves to Newport, Wales aged 25. He will be one of two Pumas at the URC side. In signing Martínez, the Dragons now have Martínez and Gonzalo Bertranou on their roster. Both are capped by Argentina.
Martínez had a strong 2021. He impressed for the Olímpia Lions in Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) 2021 to earn a call-up by Mario Ledesma for Los Pumas. He joined the team for the July Internationals against Romania and Wales.
His test debut came in the 2021 Rugby Championship. He earned his first cap against Australia in Townsville. His second appearance marked his first test start; it was against Australia in Gold Coast. His third, and most recent, was as a replacement against France in Paris.
Martínez was one of six loose head props to feature for Los Pumas in 2021. In 2022 the number was halved with Tomás Gallo, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro and Mayco Vivas used by Michael Cheika. Martínez underwent surgery which saw him out of consideration for Argentina in 2022.
Martínez is a product of Los Tordos in Mendoza. He went through the regional High Performance Center before playing for Argentina at u20 level and then for the Argentina XV. He moves to Wales at the age of 25.
