Pablo Matera

Pablo Nicolás Matera (born 18 July 1993) is an Argentine rugby union player who plays as a flanker for Stade Français. Previously, he played for Leicester Tigers in England and the Pampas XV in the South African Vodacom Cup, and the Jaguares in the Super Rugby.[2][3][4] Matera has been a regular starter for Argentina since his debut in 2013, having played over 50 tests for his national team.

Pablo Matera

Matera playing for Leicester, 2014.
Full name	Pablo Nicolás Matera
Date of birth	18 July 1993
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	111 kg (17 st 7 lb; 245 lb)[1]
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2011–13 Alumni 3 (5) 2015 Alumni () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2012–13 Pampas XV 2 (0) 2013–15 Leicester 8 (10) 2019– Stade Francais 2 (0) Correct as of 21 December 2019 Super Rugby Years Team Apps (Points) 2016–19 Jaguares 27 (10) National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2012 Argentina U19 2 (20) 2012–13 Argentina U20 16 (10) 2013– Argentina 62 (30) Correct as of 18 September 2019 National sevens team(s) Years Team Comps 2012 Argentina Sevens 2

Club career

Leicester Tigers

In October 2013, five months after his international debut, English Premiership side Leicester Tigers signed 20-year-old Matera until the end of the 2013–14 season.[5] He initially signed as an injury replacement for Tom Croft. Matera scored his first try for the club in round 16 of the 2013–14 season against the Newcastle Falcons in an 18–41 victory at Kingston Park, Newcastle.[6]

2016

Matera signed for the Jaguares, along with several other Argentina players, ahead of the 2016 Super Rugby season after their inclusion in the competition. Matera received a yellow card thirty three minutes into the game against the Sharks at Kings Park Stadium, Durban.[7] Matera scored his first and only try of the season in their fifth home game, in round 15 against the Bulls, a 29–11 victory at the José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires.[8]

2017–2018

Matera scored his first & only try for the Jaguares in the 2017 season against the Waratahs in a 27–40 away win at Allianz Stadium, Sydney.[9]

Matera was named as captain of the Jaguares ahead of the 2018 season.[10]

Stade Francais

Matera joined Stade in 2019.

International career

Matera represented Argentina U20 in the 2012 and 2013 U20 World Championships.[11]

He made his senior debut for Los Pumas against Chile in May 2013 and was subsequently named in the squad for the 2013 Rugby Championship where he featured in all the games of that campaign.[12][13] Matera was a big feature for Argentina in the 2015 Rugby World Cup playing six of seven games for Los Pumas and helping them finish fourth overall.

Matera played his 50th test for Los Pumas on 18 August 2018 against South Africa, during round 1 on the 2018 Rugby Championship. The test was a 21-34 loss for Los Pumas, who bounced back to beat South Africa the following week. Despite Matera's good performances against South Africa, new head coach Mario Ledesma went on to bench Matera for the 8 September clash against New Zealand.

Matera was the Captain of the Argentina national team on 14 November 2020 in their first ever win against the All Blacks.[14]

On 30th November, 2020 Matera was temporarily stripped of his captaincy and suspended from the national team. [15]

Controversies

In November 2020, Los Pumas were criticised for not properly honouring the death of Diego Maradona[16] in the game against the All Blacks, three days after his death.[17] In the following days, several Twitter users found and shared racist messages published by Matera in his account.[18] Matera's Twitter posts were made between 7 and 9 years earlier, when he was a teenager. In response, Matera deleted his social media accounts.[19] He has since publicly apologised.

Both the Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas (DAIA) and the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) heavily condemned Matera’s tweets.[20][21]

Super Rugby statistics

Season	Team	Games	Starts	Sub	Mins	Tries	Cons	Pens	Drops	Points	Yel	Red
2016	Jaguares	11	10	1	748	1	0	0	0	5	2	0
2017		11	11	1	775	1	0	0	0	5	1	0
2018		5	5	0	386	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		27	26	2	1,909	2	0	0	0	10	3	0

References

1. "Pablo Matera". Sanzar. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
2. "Pablo Matera Argentina Rugby Player Profile". UAR. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
3. "Pablo Matera ESPN Scrum Player Profile". ESPN. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
4. "Pablo Matera itsrugby.co.uk Player Statistics". itsrugby.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
5. "Pablo Matera: Leicester Tigers sign Argentine flanker". BBC Sport. 8 October 2013.
6. "Newcastle Falcons 18 Leicester Tigers 41". PremiershipRugby.com. 2 March 2014.
7. "Sharks beat gritty Jaguares". Sanzar. 6 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
8. "Wet weather win for Jaguares". Sanzar. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
9. "Jaguares get the better of Waratahs". Sanzar. 8 July 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
10. "Pablo Matera es el nuevo capitán de Jaguares". ESPN (in Spanish). 26 January 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
11. "Pablo Matera IRB JWC Player Profile". IRB. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
12. "SA Rugby Match Centre – South Africa 73-13 Argentina". South African Rugby Union. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
13. "SA Rugby Match Centre – Argentina 17-22 South Africa". South African Rugby Union. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
14. "Argentina (16) 25 - 15 (3) New Zealand (FT)". ESPN. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
15. https://uar.com.ar/2020/11/30/comunicado-oficial-3/
16. ""Duras críticas a Los Pumas porque no homenajearon a Maradona en el partido con los All Blacks"". Retrieved 30 November 2020.
17. ""Murió Diego Armando Maradona y ya es leyenda"". Retrieved 30 November 2020.
18. """Salir a pisar negros": los mensajes discriminadores y racistas del capitán de Los Pumas"". Retrieved 30 November 2020.
19. Matera deletes his social media after controversial old tweets are revealed
20. Frente a la difusión de los tweets misóginos, xenófobos y antisemitas publicados en el pasado por el capitán de Los Pumas, Pablo Matera, que se han viralizado en el día de la fecha, la DAIA expresa su rechazo
21. Es hora de terminar con el racismo y la discriminación en el deporte