Felipe Contepomi (born 20 August 1977) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

rugby coach who is currently the backs coach at

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

. He was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer who played

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

; his last club was

Club Newman Club Newman is an Argentine sports club located in the city of Benavídez of Tigre Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its rugby union team, which currently plays in the Top 12, the first division of the Unión de Rugby de ...

, in the first division of the

URBA Orbe (; la, Urba; older german: Orbach, ; frp, Orba) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the former district of Orbe and is now part of the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois. History Orbe is first mentioned about ...

championship. He was also a key player for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, having played 15 years for the national team. His twin brother Manuel was also a ''Puma''. In June 2015 he was appointed coach of Argentina XV. Contepomi was inducted into the

World Rugby Hall of Fame The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other ...

in November 2017.

Club career

Born 20 August 1977 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Contepomi started playing rugby for his secondary school

Colegio Cardenal Newman Colegio Cardenal Newman or Cardinal Newman College is Catholic, bilingual, day, primary and secondary school for boys in San Isidro, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, in Greater Buenos Aires. Values All its students are expected to complete se ...

, and then for

in Buenos Aires. In 2003 he joined

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

on a four-year contract following Bristol's relegation in the

2002–03 Zurich Premiership The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

. He played a major role in Leinster's run in the

2005–06 Heineken Cup The 2005–06 Heineken Cup was the eleventh edition of the European Heineken Cup rugby union club tournament. 24 teams from 7 countries took part, with the opening game played on Friday October 21, 2005. Munster won the tournament, beating Biarritz ...

, helping Leinster to a 41–35 win over Cup holders

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, scoring 21 points in the process and winning the man of the match award. That year he was top scorer in both the

2005–06 Celtic League The 2005–06 Celtic League was the fifth Celtic League season, and the third following the introduction of regional rugby in Wales. Eleven teams, from three countries participated. The final table was dominated by the Irish, with the top three ...

and the Heineken Cup. In late January 2006, Contepomi's former girlfriend, Paula, gave birth to their daughter, Catalina. Only hours later, Contepomi played for Leinster the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

match against the

Border Reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

, a game in which he went on to score 22 points. In November of that year,

Agustín Pichot Agustín Pichot (born 22 August 1974, in Buenos Aires) is a retired Argentine rugby union player, formerly captain of the Argentine team and the English club Bristol. In addition to Bristol, he played for French sides Stade Français and Rac ...

said that Contepomi was a better player than

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

fly-half,

Dan Carter Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...

, the winner of the 2005

IRB International Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...

award. On 31 May 2007, the

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland's first private university. It was established in 1784 ...

in Dublin conferred him with the medical degrees of MB BCh BAO ( NUI) LRCP&SI. He subsequently worked in

Beaumont Hospital, Dublin Beaumont Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Beaumont) is a large teaching hospital located in Beaumont, Dublin, Ireland. It is managed by RCSI Hospitals - one of the hospital groups established by the Health Service Executive. Its academic partner is th ...

. Contepomi won the 2007 Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year award. While playing at Leinster, his nominal 'local club' of origin was County Carlow Co Carlow Football Club, a provincial side which later got into financial difficulties and is now a minor Junior concern. On 12 March 2009, it was announced that Contepomi would be leaving Leinster at the end of the season, and that he had signed a 4-year deal to join French side

RC Toulon R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like e ...

from the

2009–10 Top 14 season The 2009–10 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). It began on August 14, 2009 with a match between Toulon and Stade Français at Stade Mayol in Toulon, and continued ...

. Contepomi played a role in the Leinster win over Munster in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

semi-final on 2 May 2009. After scoring a drop goal after 15 minutes in, he was helped off the pitch after suffering a knee injury half an hour in. An MRI scan confirmed he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and was expected to be out of action for 6 months post-op. Almost exactly on schedule, he made his Toulon debut on 21 November against

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 75 ...

, coming off the bench and scoring a penalty in Toulon's 19–10 win. Contepomi left RC Toulon to take the fly-half position at Stade Français in time for the 2011–12 season.

International career

Contepomi was one of the stars of world rugby and was also set to lead the Argentina national team into a new era after being named captain in 2008. The former U19, U21 and Sevens international made his Pumas debut against Chile in 1998 and has been an integral part of Argentinean rugby ever since. The multi-talented Contepomi made his international break-through at fly-half and while he has played much of his rugby in that position he recently has found his place at inside centre with Juan Martin Hernandez preferred at No.10. He was named in José Luis Imhoff and Alex Wyllie's squad for the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

squad, where the Pumas made the quarter-finals for the first time. Marcelo Loffreda took charge of the national side in 2000 and Contepomi retained his place, eventually nailing down a starting berth 2001. Contepomi taking kick

He notably notched a full house on his way to 25 points in the 30–16 victory over Wales in Cardiff on 10 November 2001. He was also part of the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

squad, featuring in three of the Pumas' pool games as they were forced to play four games in a fortnight. In 2004, Contepomi weighed in with 14 points as Argentina condemned France to their first defeat at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille. He also faced the British & Irish Lions in 2005 and at the end of 2006 he was part of the Pumas side that scored their first ever victory over England at Twickenham. The Pumas stunned the rugby world with an inspired performance at the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

in France. Contepomi was a key player throughout the campaign – featuring in all seven matches as the Pumas claimed third place in the sport's global showpiece. He was the second highest points scorer in the tournament – notably kicking four penalties in the shock opening victory over hosts France and 11 points in both the pool victory over Ireland and the quarter-final against Scotland. Contepomi was nominated by the IRB as one of five candidates for the 2007 International Player of the Year award, which was won by

Bryan Habana Bryan Gary Habana OIS (born 12 June 1983) is a South African former professional rugby union player who initially played as an outside centre but later on, he shifted to the wing. He most recently played for Toulon in the French Top 14 competit ...

. Following the retirement of veteran scrum-half

, Contepomi was handed the captaincy of the Pumas in 2008 by new coach Santiago Phelan ahead of the opening clash of the year against Scotland. A knee injury suffered in Leinster's

semi-final victory over

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

in 2009 ruled him out of action for over a year but he returned to Pumas colours in 2010 and won a 31-point haul in their 41–13 victory over Six Nations champions France. He was part of the Argentine squad for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

in New Zealand playing as captain. Contepomi played his last international game with Argentina on Saturday 5 October 2013 in

Rosario, Santa Fe Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

, against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

during

The Rugby Championship The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a s ...

. At the time of his retirement, Contepomi achieved the most test matches played for Argentina (87) and the most points scored in international games (651). He worked with his father in their medical practice in

and as assistant coach in the Super XV for new Argentine franchise

Jaguares (Super Rugby) The Jaguares was an Argentine professional rugby union team based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They were founded in 2015 and are the first Argentine team to play in SANZAAR's Super Rugby competition, participating from the 2016 Super Rugby sea ...

Coaching career

Contepomi joined Argentina XV in 2015 as a head coach alongside Ricardo Le Fort. In 2018, he was appointed as new Backs Coach to Leinster, succeeding Girvan Dempsey, who moved to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

.The Irish province of Leinster announced in May 2022 the departure of their full-backs coach, Felipe Contepomi, at the end of the season. The former Argentinian opener joins the Pumas where he is an assistant role to

Michael Cheika Michael Cheika (born 4 March 1967) is an Australian rugby union and rugby league coach, and former rugby union player. He is currently head coach of Argentina in rugby union and Lebanon in rugby league. Cheika was the coach of the Australia r ...

Honours

Leinster

2008–09 *

2007–08

Individual

* IRB Player of the Year 2007 – Finalist * Argentina national team all-time top scorer (651 points)

References

External links

*
Bristol Rugby profile

Leinster Rugby profile

Argentine Rugby Union profile

Toulonnaise RC profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Contepomi, Felipe 1977 births Living people Rugby union players from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine rugby union coaches Argentine rugby union players Argentine physicians Club Newman rugby union players Bristol Bears players Lansdowne Football Club players Leinster Rugby non-playing staff Leinster Rugby players Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves Argentine twins Alumni of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland RC Toulonnais players Stade Français players Expatriate rugby union players in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Argentina international rugby union players Twin sportspeople Argentine expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Ireland Expatriate rugby union players in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England Argentina international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players People educated at Colegio Cardenal Newman World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees