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Julián Montoya will move from the Leicester Tigers at seasons end. The Argentine captain had a number of offers on the table and decided to join Pau. He agreed to join Pau on a three year contract. Bordeaux offered Montoya a two-year-deal.
Pau is currently home to Ignacio Calles. He joined Montoya in the 2024 Rugby Championship. The club has also been home to former Pumas including Patricio Albacete, Lisandro Arbizu, Santiago Fernández, Juan Pablo Orlando and Gonzalo Quesada. All five of them played at one or more Rugby World Cups for Argentina.
Montoya is one of four Pumas with 100 test caps. He earned his 100th cap against Australia in Santa Fe in September. The three other Pumas currently with 100 or more test caps are Agustín Creevy, Nicolás Sánchez and Pablo Matera.
 TEST DEBUT – JULIÁN MONTOYA |
Montoya debuted for Argentina in 2014. His first cap was in 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 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, Australia in Sydney in 2023 and South Africa in Santiago del Estero in 2024.
  CAREER – JULÍAN MONTOYA |
Julián Montoya is a 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.
Creevy and Montoya were the two specialist hooker selected to play for Argentina at 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 test career has 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.
