Pumas star signs with Crusaders
Argentina test captain and loose forward Pablo Matera has signed with the Crusaders, and will represent them in 2022.
Matera, on the books of French club Stade Francais, has played 60 tests for the Pumas.
Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge confirmed the signing of the star flanker yesterday.
Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson described Matera as ‘‘one of the premier loose forwards in world rugby’’.
While the Crusaders already have a clutch of young tyros in their loose forward stocks, their only All Black in the back row is Cullen Grace. Ethan Blackadder, Tom Christie, Whetukamokamo Douglas, Tom Sanders and Sione Havili Talitui have joined Grace in action for the Crusaders in Super Rugby Aotearoa this season.
Matera led the Pumas to their first-ever win over the All Blacks in Australia in November.
It’s not just Matera’s performances for the Pumas that have earned him accolades from New Zealand rugby fans. He was also a star for the Jaguares in the nowdefunct
Super Rugby competition that drew on teams from Argentina, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
But Matera has also been in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Last year he had the captaincy of the national team taken off him and was suspended, along with two team-mates, for offensive messages that had been posted on social media between 2011 and 2013. Those messages were deemed to be ‘‘discriminatory and xenophobic’’.
‘‘I am very ashamed,’’ Pablo said after the historical social media messages resurfaced.