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Rodrigo Isgró has signed to continue his playing career in England. London side the Harlequins have signed the back from Mendoza with immediate effect for the upcoming season. Isgró has made the transition from Los Pumas 7’s to rugby XV on a full-time basis.
| TEST DEBUT – Rodrigo Isgró |
Rodrigo Isgró made his test debut for Argentina in 2023. He earned his first cap in a 34-31 win over Australia in Sydney. Isgró played on the right wing and left an excellent impression. He made 82 meters with ball in hand, defeating two defenders. Isgró formed a back-three with Mateo Carreras and Emiliano Boffelli. They play professionally in France and Scotland respectively.
| LOS PUMAS – Rodrígo Isgró |
Following his debut against Australia, Isgró had one foot in the door for World Cup selection. Head Coach Michael Cheika had to decide on who to take and who to leave out. Martín Bogado, Emiliano Boffelli, Sebastián Cancelliere, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Cordero, Bautista Delguy, Juan Imhoff, and Rodrigo Isgró were competing for four spots.
The final selection saw Isgró on the roster alongside Bogado, Boffelli, Carreras, and Imhoff. Isgró’s inclusion came after playing for the Argentina XV in World Cup warm-up matches. He was a try scorer against Los Cóndores.
His second test cap was against Spain. Los Pumas faced Los Leones in Madrid in their final rugby World Cup warm-up match. Argentina won 62-03 with Isgró starting on the right wing. His this came was at the World Cup. He scored his first test try in the 59-05 win over Chile.
| CAREER – Rodrigo Isgró |
His selection for Los Pumas by Michael Cheika did not come as a surprise. Rodrigo Isgró was the world’s best Rugby Sevens player in 2023. He earned his call-up to Los Pumas on the back of multiple campaigns for Los Pumas’s beginning in 2020. In 2021 he won Bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
Rodrigo Isgró was born in Mendoza in 1999. He stared playing rugby at the age of 4 for Mendoza Rugby Club in Guaymallén. His talent saw him identified and inserted into Argentina’s High Performance development system. He played for Argentina u20 at the 2019 World Rugby Junior Championship.
His pathway from Los Pumitas to Los Pumas, and now Harlequins, saw him playing 152 matches for Los Pumas 7’s. He scored 355 points, including 71 tries. He was a try scorer against France in the Quarter Finals loss at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
At the Paris Olympics, Isgro featured against France in the Quarter-Final, scoring a try in the 14-26 defeat, before playing in the fifth-placed play-off against New Zealand.
| HARLEQUINS – PUMAS |
Isgró will be the only Argentine at the Harlequins in the 2024-2025 season. His arrival sees a new chapter in Pumas at the London club. Rugby World Cup 2007 and 2021 center, Gonzalo Tiesi played for the club from 2008-2010. The club finished second in the 2009 English Premiership.
Current Spain Head Coach Pablo Bouza is a former Harlequin. The former Puma played for the club in 2005 while Argentine prop Pablo Cardinalli was at the club from 2002-2003. Another URBA prop, Santiago García Botta played for the Harlequins from 2019-2023 and scrum-half Martín Landajo did so from 2019-2021.
Rugby World Cup 2019 fly half Benjamín Urdapilleta is a former Harlequin. He played for the club from 2010-2012 before moving to France. Former Pumas second-rower Tomás Vallejos was a part of the Harlequins side that won the 2011 Challenge Cup and English Premiership in 2012.
Finally, Gonzalo Camacho was a Harlequin from 2009-2011. Camacho scored the winning try for the Harlequins in the 2011 Challenge Cup title win over Stade Français.
