Julián Montoya (born 29 October 1993) is an Argentine professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a hooker and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

the Argentina national team. He previously played for for

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

club

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 home ...

, where he won the 2022 Premiership and was captain as Leicester were runners up in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Club career

In June 2020, there was speculation that Montoya had agreed to join

for the

2021-22 Premiership Rugby Increment or incremental may refer to: *Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) *Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming *Incremental computing *Incremental backup, wh ...

season, but the move was eventually confirmed as an immediate transfer on 20 January 2021. He started the 2022 Premiership Rugby final as Tigers beat

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

15-12.

International career

Montoya played for

Argentina national under-20 rugby union team The Argentina national under-20 rugby union team, officially nicknamed ''Pumitas'', represents Argentina at a national level. The team plays in the World Rugby U20 Championship. It also competes at the South American Junior Championship as of 19 ...

at the

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth, IRB Junior World Championship, an annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twe ...

. He later would also play for Argentina Jaguars. He had his first cap for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

at the 65–9 win over

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, at 17 May 2014, for the

South American Rugby Championship The South American Rugby Championship refers to the continental rugby union championships for South America, organized by Sudamérica Rugby. The current name of the championships is ''South American Six Nations'', implemented in 2018. South Ameri ...

, in Paysandu,

. He played for the Argentina squad that won the competition in 2014 and 2015, twice in each of them, with a try scored on both occasions. He was called for the

2015 Rugby Championship The 2015 Rugby Championship was the fourth edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere The Rugby Championship, Rugby Championship consisting of Argentina national rugby union team, Argentina, Australia national rugby union team, Australia, ...

, playing his first game at the tournament in the 39–18 loss to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, on 17 July 2015, in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. He has 8 caps for the "Pumas", with 2 tries scored, 10 points on aggregate. Montoya was a starter for the national team on 14 November 2020 in their first ever win against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

. He is the only Argentinian captain to have a win over Australia (2022, 2023, 2024), New Zealand (2022, 2024) and South Africa (2024) and he is one of a few captains to achieve this.England captains

John Pullin John Vivian Pullin (1 November 1941 – 5 February 2021) was an England international rugby union player. A hooker, he played club rugby for Bristol Rugby and captained the England national rugby union team for which he played 42 times between ...

Will Carling William David Charles Carling (born 12 December 1965) is an English former rugby union player. He was England's youngest captain, aged 22, and won 72 caps from 1988 to 1996, captaining England 59 times. Under his captaincy, England won Five N ...

, Martin Johnson,

Owen Farrell Owen Andrew Farrell (born Owen Andrew O'Loughlin, 24 September 1991) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Saracens F.C., Saracens. He was the England captain fr ...

, France captains

Fabien Pelous Fabien Pelous (born 7 December 1973) is a retired French rugby union player. A lock who also occasionally played as a number eight and flanker, he played the bulk of his professional career for Stade Toulousain, and is the all-time leader in ...

Thierry Dusautoir Thierry Dusautoir (; born 18 November 1981) is a French former rugby union player who last played for France at international level and Toulouse in the French Top 14 club competition. He was called the "Dark Destroyer" during his career. Dusautoi ...

and

Antoine Dupont Antoine Dupont (born 15 November 1996) is a French professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Top 14 club Toulouse and captains the France national team. Dupont has won 39 individual accolades in his career, including the ...

and Irish captain

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player who was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC. Best earned 124 caps for Irelan ...

have achieved this.

References

External links

*
Julián Montoya at UAR Official Website (Spanish)
1993 births Living people Argentine rugby union players Argentina international rugby union players Club Newman rugby union players Jaguares (Super Rugby) players 21st-century Argentine sportsmen Pampas XV players Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Buenos Aires People educated at Colegio Cardenal Newman Leicester Tigers players 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players 2023 Rugby World Cup players Argentine expatriate rugby union players in England {{argentina-rugbyunion-bio-stub