After months of speculation it is official – Clermont will soon be home to two Argentine giants. Following the recent signing of Marcos Kremer from Stade Français the club has now retained Tomás Lavanini on a new contract.
Lavanini has signed a new contract to remain for the 2023-2024 season with the option of an extension for a further year. The deal means that the Argentine giants will team-up at Clermont. They hold down starting positions for Los Pumas. Both were magnificent for Argentina in the historic 2022 Rugby Championship win over the All Blacks in New Zealand.
Lavanini and Kremer are among Argentina’s best players. Lavanini has 78 caps for Argentina and Kremer has 56. The former always plays second-row while Kremer moves between second-row and flanker. Under Michael Cheika he has always played flanker.
Clermont is also home to the 25 time capped Bautista Delguy. He joined from rivals Perpignan and also previously played for Bordeaux in the Top 14. Lavanini is a former Leiceter Tiger in the English Premiership and played for Racing 92 before playing Super Rugby for Los Jaguares. Kremer, Lavanini and Delguy were previously all teammates at Los Jaguares in Super Rugby.
From Concordia in Entre Rios, Kremer is a product of Los Espinillos. He also played for Club Salto Grande before making his senior debut for Atlético del Rosario as a 17-year-old.
Lavanini and Delguy are products of Buenos Aires clubs Hindú and Pucará respectively. They went through the domestic High Performance center and their brothers are presently Federico Lavanini and Iñaki Delguy are teammates now playing Super Rugby Americas for Los Pampas.