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History will be made in more ways than one in Nantes. Argentina vs Chile will be the first-ever Rugby World Cup match between two South American countries. The battle of the Andes will also see Nicolás Sánchez reaching 100 test caps for Los Pumas. Sánchez is the second Puma to reach the mark; he joins Agustín Creevy.
Creevy earned his 100th cap earlier this year. He did so as a replacement against South Africa at home in Buenos Aires. Creevy and Sánchez are both competing in their fourth Rugby World Cups. They played in New Zealand 2011, England 2015 and Japan 2019.
Creevy debuted for Argentina against Japan in 2005. Sanchez is four years younger than Creevy. Now 34, Sánchez debuted for Los Pumas against Uruguay in 2010. His second test cap was against Chile. Thirteen years later he reaches the milestone of 100 against his hermanos from across the Andes.
Born on October 26, 1988 in Tucumán, Sánchez is a product of the Tucumán Lawn Tennis club. He went through the local and provincial system and was selected for u19 duty for Argentina in 2007. He also played for Argentina at u20 level before joining the seniors.
Sánchez is the 737th player capped by Los Pumas. In addition to becoming the second player to reach 100 caps, Sánchez is also the leading point scorer with 866 points. His points have come in the form of 13 tries, 123 conversions, 173 penales and 12 drop-goals).
In 2011 Sánchez helped Los Pampas XV to the Vodacom Cup title in South Africa. He then earned selection for Argentina for the World Cup where he was an understudy to both Felipe Contepomi and Santiago Fernández.
2011 also saw Sánchez signing his first professional contract abroad. He joins Bordeaux in the Top 14 that year and moved to Toulon in 2014. He returned to Argentina in 2016 for Super Rugby with Los Jaguares before moving to Stade Français in 2018 and Brive in 2022.
All of his test caps have come at fly half. He became the first-choice fly half for Argentina in November 2012. He scored 13 points against Wales in Cardiff, 17 against France in Lille and 12 against Ireland in Dublin.
His career high was 29 test points against Japan in Tokyo in 2016. However, it was his 25 points against New Zealand which saw him mark down his name in history. In a man-of-the-match performance, Sánchez impressed in Argentina’s history-ever win over New Zealand. It came in the 2020 Rugby Championship in Sydney, Australia.
Sánchez was at the top of his game at Rugby World Cup 2015. He was man-of-the-match for Los Pumas against Ireland in Cardiff, Wales. Sánchez scored 23 points in the Quarter Final win. This followed his 25 points in the pool match against Tonga. He also scored 15 points against both Georgia and Australia. He had the honor of captaining Argentina in the Bronze Final against South Africa.
The following table lists he most capped Pumas of all-time. It lists the players per position, the years of their involvement for Los Pumas and the number of test caps. The caps are listed before the match against Chile.
| PLAYER | POS | YEARS | CAPS |
| Agustín Creevy | HK | 2005- | 103 |
| Nicolás Sánchez | FH | 2010- | 99 |
| Pablo Matera | N8 | 2013- | 97 |
| Tomás Cubelli | SH | 2010- | 90 |
| Julián Montoya | HK | 2014- | 91 |
| Felipe Contepomi | CE | 1998-2013 | 87 |
| Juan Manuel Leguizamón | N8 | 2005-2019 | 87 |
| Matías Alemanno | LO | 2014- | 88 |
| Lisandro Arbizu | CE | 1990-2005 | 86 |
| Rolando Martín | FL | 1994-2003 | 86 |
| Mario Ledesma | HK | 1996-2011 | 85 |
| Martín Landajo | SH | 2008-2018 | 84 |
| Tomás Lavanini | LO | 2013- | 83 |
| Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro | LH | 2010- | 78 |
| Jerónimo de la Fuente | CE | 2014- | 76 |
| Guido Petti | LO | 2014- | 77 |
| Matías Moroni | CE | 2014- | 76 |
| Agustín Pichot | SH | 1995-2007 | 71 |
The table demonstrates that captain Julián Montoya is now among the top 5 capped Pumas. There are not enough remaining test matches in 2023 for him to reach 100 Pumas caps. He should do so in 2024. Former captain Pablo Matera may yet reach 100 caps during Rugby World Cup 2023.
Veteran scrum-half Tomás Cubelli requires 10 more caps to reach 100. He is the most capped scrum-half in Pumas history. Second-rowers Matías Alemanno and Tomás Lavanini are the next most capped active Pumas and could both reach 100 caps.
