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Julián Montoya is Argentina’s fourth player to reach 100 test caps. The starting hooker and captain reaches the mark of 100 caps against Australia in Santa Fé on Saturday, September 07. Montoya will have the honor of leading his country in his 100th appearance.
Montoya has reached 100 caps in record time for Los Pumas. The three others with 100 test caps are hooker Agustín Creevy, fly half Nicolás Sánchez and flanker Pablo Matera. Creevy debuted in 2005 and earned his 100th cap in 2023. Sánchez debuted in 2010 and earned his 100th cap in 2023. Matera debuted in 2013 and earned his 100th cap in 2024.
Matera earned his 100th cap at the age of 30 while Sánchez did so on the month of his 35th birthday and Creevy aged 39. Like Matera, Montoya reaches the mark at 30 years of age.
All four of the Pumas 100 club were all part the Jaguares in Super Rugby era of Argentine rugby. Additional members of that generation of players are the next in line to reach 100 Pumas caps. For instance, Matías Alemanno has 96 and Tomás Cubelli 93 caps.
 TEST DEBUT – JULIÁN MONTOYA |
Montoya debuted for Argentina in May 2014. His first cap was a 65-09 win over Los Teros in Paysandu, Uruguay. It was part of the South American Championship. Montoya was a 58th minute replacement for Matías Cortese.
Montoya was in the company of a number of players who are still his teammates in 2024. Matías Alemanno started in the second-row, Tomás Cubelli played scrum-half, Jerónimo De la Fuente and Matías Orlando were the centers and Santiago Cordero was fullback. Tomás Lavanini was a second-half replacement.
| LOS PUMAS – JULIÁN MONTOYA |
Julián Montoya is recognized as being among the best hookers in the world. He overtook Agustín Creevy to become first-choice Pumas hooker in 2019 and became captain on a full-time basis in May 2021. Montoya captained Argentina to the Semi Final of Rugby World Cup 2023. Additional feats of note include leading his country to wins over New Zealand in Christchurch in 2022 and Wellington in 2024, England in London in 2022 and Australia in Sydney in 2023.
  CAREER – JULÍAN MONTOYA |
Julián Montoya is the product of Club Newman in Buenos Aires. He was identified young and went through the Argentine High Performance system. This saw him playing for Argentina a Junior level and being given his test debut in the 2014 South American Championship.
His first two caps were against Uruguay in Paysandu and Chile in Santiago in 2014. He faced Los Teros again in 2015. On both occasions he was replaced Matías Cortese. He replaced Santiago Iglesias Valdez in Argentina’s 71-07 win over Paraguay in May 2015.
The three were in contention to be understudy to Pumas captain Agustín Creevy. Montoya came off the bench against New Zealand and Iglesias Valdez did so against Australia. Montoya returned against South Africa. It was Argentina’s first-ever win over South Africa.
Head Coach Daniel Hourcade selected Creevy and Montoya as his hookers for Rugby World Cup 2015. Montoya scored tries in the wins over Tonga and Namibia in Leicester. After the World Cup he began his professional career for Los Jaguares in Super Rugby.
Montoya played for Los Jaguares from 2006-2020. He was a part of the side which reached the 2019 Super Rugby final against the Crusaders. With the Argentine franchise cut for the 2021 season, Montoya continued his career abroad. He joined the Western Force before transferring to the Leicester Tigers in January 2021. The Leicester Tigers is the most successful English team past or present. Montoya was appointed Leicester captain in 2023.
His 100 test caps have included playing in three Rugby World Cups and a fourth is within his reach. He has beaten all Tier 1 opponents. Montoya’s 100 caps have come against nineteen countries: Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Italy, Georgia, Tonga, Namibia, Ireland, France, Scotland, Japan, USA, Romania, and Samoa. He was rested for Argentina’s 2022 test match against Spain in Madrid.
