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Facundo Gigena is staying in the English Premiership. The Argentine loose head prop has signed a new contract to stay at the Leicester Tigers. The 25-year-old joined the Leicester Tigers from Los Jaguares, debuting in England in January 2018.
During his time at Leicester Gigena has made 39 appearances for the club. He has caught the attention of Mario Ledesma who met with him and named him on his training roster for this year’s Rugby Championship.
In all six loose had props were named by Ledesma. The others are Ignacio Calles (Pau, FR), Javier Díaz (Jaguares) Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (Jaguares), Federico Wegrzyn (Ceibos) and Mayco Vivas (Jaguares). Calles, Gigena and Wegrzyn are uncapped.
Gigena has been on the radar for Argentina since representing the Pumitas at two World Rugby u20 Championships. He graduated to the Argentina XV in the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship and was subsequently called up to the Jaguares for their inaugural Super Rugby season, appearing in five games as a replacement.
Injury slowed his progress early in 2017 as he missed the Super Rugby season entirely and made only one appearance in the ARC. Gigena then received a boost as he was selected to play for the World XV against Japan in November despite having yet to win his first cap for Argentina. He will now have to wait for that international debut as under current UAR regulations he is ineligible to play for the Pumas until the 2019 World Cup warm-ups.
