Marcos Ayerza (born January 12, 1983 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 ...

) is a former

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 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 ...

rugby player who played loose-head prop for the

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

and his

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. His passion and aggression on the field earned him the nickname "El Toro" (The Bull).

Club career

He joined Leicester in 2006, having previously played rugby for his 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

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 ...

. His Tigers debut came as a late call-up when Alex Moreno was injured in the warm-up, against

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the c ...

in September 2006. In January 2008, he signed a three-year contract extension with Tigers along with fellow prop

Martin Castrogiovanni Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

. He started in the 2007 Premiership final victory against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and the back-to-back Premiership titles in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. The 2009 final was against

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

, and the 2010 final was against

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

. He started in losing

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 ...

finals in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

and the losing Premiership finals of 2011 and 2012. In December 2014 Ayerza made his 200th appearance for Leicester against Northampton and in January 2015 it was announced Tigers would play Argentina as part of a testimonial year in Ayerza's honour. In September 2016 he made his 200th start against

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

becoming only the 86th player in the club's history to make 200 starts. In April 2017, following medical advice regarding a back injury sustained in November 2016, Ayerza retired from professional rugby. This followed 11 seasons at Welford Road, totalling 246 games as part of a squad that won 4 Premiership titles.

International

Ayerza has represented at under-19 and under-21 level, playing in both the 2003 and 2004 under-21 World Championships. His international debut for the full Argentina side was in December 2004 against the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

. His only international try was scored against in April 2005.Argentina profile (spanish)
He competed in qualifying matches for the 2007

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

and was capped twice during that competition, collecting a bronze medal as Argentina came third. He has played on both sides of the scrum internationally.

Personal life

Ayerza is from

and is one of ten children. He is completing a degree in business studies. Outside of rugby, Ayerza's hobbies include playing the piano and

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

. His family has a long tradition in horse racing, which he attributed to his Irish ancestors, and run a

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation o ...

. An accomplished polo player, he named one of the horses Welford Road after the

' home ground

Welford Road Stadium Welford Road (currently known as Mattioli Woods Welford Road for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union stadium in Leicester, England, and is the home ground of Leicester Tigers. The ground was opened on 10 September 1892, and is located betwe ...

References

External links

Leicester Tigers Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayerza, Marcos 1983 births Living people Rugby union players from Buenos Aires Argentine rugby union players Rugby union props Club Newman rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Argentina international rugby union players Argentine expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England People educated at Colegio Cardenal Newman Argentine people of Irish descent