Tomás Lavanini will return to Super Rugby. New Zealand’s southern most franchise, the Highlanders have signed Lavanini for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season. The 32-year-old joins from French Top 14 club Lyon whom he made eleven appearances for in the 2024-2025 season.
| LOS PUMAS – TOMÁS LAVANINI |
Tomás Lavanini made his test debut for Argentina in 2013 against Uruguay in Montevideo. Los Pumas were 29-18 winners in the April test match. It was played outside of the international release windows. The inexperienced Pumas side saw Lavanini starting in the second-row alongside Cesar Fruttero.
At this point in time Argentina’s regular lock combination was Patricio Albacete and Manuel Carizza with Mariano Galarza positioned as the replacement. This was the formation for round one of the 2013 Rugby Championship. Argentina were without Albacete and Carizza in round two which saw Lavanini making his tournament debut in Mendoza against South Africa.
2013 turned into transition for Los Pumas; Daniel Hourcade replaced Santiago Phelan as Head Coach before the November Internationals. Lavanini earned two caps as a replacement during Argentina’s November tour.
By mid-2014, Hourcade had Lavanini in his starting line-up. He partnered both Manuel Carizza and Mariano Galarza in the Rugby Championship before partnering Guido Petti for the first-time in November. The pair started together in the wins over Italy and France in Europe.
Lavanini and Petti remained Argentina’s starting combination for a lengthily period covering three Rugby World Cups. This was with Matías Alemanno completing the triangle. It remained as such until July 2024 when none of the three played for the first time in eleven years.
Today Lavanini has 91 caps, Petti has 91 and Alemanno has 98. They are in a race to reach 100 caps. Lavanini is presently not on Felipe Contepomi’s roster and last played in the 2024 Rugby Championship, Alemanno is yet to play for his country in 2025 while Petti featured in the recent win over New Zealand in Buenos Aires.
Lavanini is one of four Pumas to have beaten every Tier 1 team in the world. He defeated Italy for the first time in 2013, Australia and France in 2014, South Africa and Ireland in 2015, Wales in 2021, England, Scotland and New Zealand in 2022.
Additional highlights have seen Lavanini playing in two Rugby World Cup Semi Finals and, on a personal note, he broke Australian hearts on the Gold Coast when he put in a match-winning tackle vs Australia in the Rugby Championship.
| CAREER – TOMÁS LAVANINI |
Lavanini’s professional career began in France in 2014. He joined Racing 92, making 10 appearances before signing with the UAR to play Super Rugby for Los Jaguares. He played 48 matches of Super Rugby for the Argentine franchise from 2016-2019.
His second European club was the Leicester Tigers. Lavanini joined the English Premiership giants after Rugby World Cup 2019. He played 38 times for Leicester between 2019 and 2021. He then returned to France, joining Clermont. He played 42 matches for the club from 2021-2024 and lastly played 11 matches for Lyon in the 2024-2025 season. The player and club mutually agreed for him to leve his contract early; hence, his move to Dunedin, New Zealand.
| HIGHLANDERS – LOS PUMAS |
Lavanini is the second Puma signed to a Super Rugby Pacific team for the 2026 season. Fellow second-rower Franco Molina recently signed for the Western Force based in Perth, Australia.
Lavanini will be the third Argentine to play for the Highlanders. The first was tight head prop Matías Díaz who joined Lavanini in making his test debut for Argentina against Uruguay in 2013. The second was Martín Bogado who was a teammate of Lavanini’s at Rugby World Cup 2023.
