When you think of great Argentinian rugby players, marauding, dynamic, big carrying, big tackling back-rowers are usually among them, as in Rolando Martin in the 90s/00s, former captain and current assistant coach Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, the Pumas’ second most capped player of all time Pablo Matera, Juan Manuel Leguizamón and so on.
Juan Martín González is already well on the way to establishing himself in such illustrious company and seems a Pumas captain of the future. At the age of 22 he was an ever-present starter in Argentina’s run to the semi-finals and third-place playoff in the last World Cup, playing every minute of their last five games at either number eight or blindside, and he also played every match in their impressive Rugby Championship campaign this year, starting five of them.
He only turns 24 on Thursday this week but has accumulated 35 caps, scoring 10 tries, during which his body of work has been exceptional. He is a dynamic, X factor player – as evidenced by that try count – and is equally strong in defence.
As the ex-Scottish flanker John Barclay pointed out on TNT Sports last Saturday before Los Pumas warmed up for next Friday’s game against Ireland with their 50-18 win over Italy: “He [González] has the second highest dominant tackles in the Rugby Championship. Considering who they are playing against and the types of players they are playing against, to have that as your defensive stat is impressive.
“Then you look at him as an attacking player, he’s got speed, he’s got offloading and involved in almost everything good that Argentina do.”
His father played rugby in Mendoza and took his then 14-year-old son to the 2015 World Cup in England and Wales, including Argentina’s quarter-final against the Wallabies in Cardiff. Suitably inspired, he informed his father that he wanted to be a professional rugby player.
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González began to make waves when he captained the Argentina under-18s Sevens team which won the Youths Olympics in 2018, and he also played for the Argentina under-20s at the World Cup in 2019. Having broken into the Jaguares XV team, González made his Test debut as a replacement against Romania in Bucharest in July 2021, and marked the occasion by scoring a try.
This brought him to the attention of London Irish, and he was signed soon after by Declan Kidney. Moving from Buenos Aires to London at the age of 20 sounds fairly daunting, but it’s very much the Argentinian way.
“It is true. I went to London Irish when I was 20 years old and it was amazing. I really enjoyed that. It’s true that we don’t have other chances. You have to go to other places if you want to be in Los Pumas. Now we have three teams in Argentina that are really good,” says González in relation to the Pampas (Buenos Aires), Dogos XV (Cordoba) and from next year Tarucas in Tucumán.
“But at that moment we didn’t have [them]. That’s why I went to London Irish and it was a really good experience.”
Ala Wasps and Worcester, it was a terrible shame what happened to London Irish, but González was a prized asset who was offered a new home at Saracens.
“Saracens is amazing. I really love to be there and to play there. The people are really good with me, and I’m really excited to keep playing there.”
Despite his commitments with Los Pumas, González played 37 times in his two seasons with London Irish, including 22 starts, and scored eight tries, and has already accumulated 22 appearances for Saracens (19 of them starting, and another nine tries).
Los Pumas have caused Ireland plenty of grief at World Cups, winning three of four meetings, and have won five, drawn one and lost three matches in Argentina against Ireland. But Argentina have lost on all 10 treks to Dublin, the last eight of them being November internationals.
One senses this is a record which González and his team-mates are acutely aware of, and that Felipe Contepomi has highlighted the opportunity to make history, while also warning them of a likely Irish backlash to last Friday’s 23-13 loss against the All Blacks.
“It’s true that they (Ireland) didn’t perform really well against All Blacks. We know they lost their last game so they are coming with more strength, and that’s one thing. It’s also really hard to play here in Ireland, the stadium is going to be amazing, all the people are going to be crazy but for us that is good. We like that challenge.”
You can bet they will.
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