{"id":416557,"date":"2026-02-09T18:11:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416557\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:11:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:11:48","slug":"tomas-lavanini-stands-on-brink-of-gallagher-prem-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416557\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom\u00e1s Lavanini stands on brink of Gallagher PREM return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Los <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/pumas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pumas<\/a> enforcer Tom\u00e1s Lavanini is being marketed for a move to the Gallagher PREM when his contract with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/highlanders\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Highlanders<\/a> runs out at the end of the forthcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/super-rugby\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> campaign.<\/p>\n<p>And it could bring him onto the radar of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/sale\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sale<\/a> Sharks, who RugbyPass reported at the weekend had started looking at options with former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/england\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a> under-20 international <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/junior-kpoku\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Junior Kpoku<\/a> set to stay in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/toulon\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toulon<\/a> next season.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Sanderson has recruited <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/tomas-francis\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tomas Francis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/nicky-smith\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nicky Smith<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/alex-lozowski\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Lozowski<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/joe-marchant\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Marchant<\/a> for next season and is still looking to bring in more players with his attention switching back to the second row.<\/p>\n<p>Buenos Aires-born Lavanini, who celebrated his 33rd birthday in January, began his career in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/argentina\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Argentina<\/a> with Hind\u00fa Club, Pampas XV1, before moving to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/top-14\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Top 14<\/a> giants Racing 92, then returning home to join the Jaguares.<\/p>\n<p>The 6\u20197, 129kg star has spent the bulk of his career in Europe spening two seasons with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/leicester\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leicester<\/a> Tigers, and then back in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/clermont\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Clermont<\/a> Auvergne and Lyon.<\/p>\n<p>Lavanini, who has won 91 Test caps and represented Argentina at three Rugby World Cups in 2015, 2019, and 2023, moved to Dunedin to join the Highlanders on a one-year deal late last year.<\/p>\n<p>He followed in the footsteps of prop Mathias Diaz, who played for the Highlanders in 2014, and outside back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/martin-bogado\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Bogado<\/a> during the 2023\u201324 season.<\/p>\n<p>Dubbed an \u2018old school\u2019 physical presence, when he moved to New Zealand, he was described on YouTube as the dirtiest player of all-time after picking up 18 yellow cards and four red cards in his long and, at times, controversial career.<\/p>\n<p>The hulking second-row is best known for his numerous clashes with Springbok star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/eben-etzebeth\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eben Etzebeth<\/a>, and it is thought he is more than keen on a return to the Gallagher PREM after his 38-game stint with the Welford Road outfit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Pumas enforcer Tom\u00e1s Lavanini is being marketed for a move to the Gallagher PREM when his contract&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-416557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}