Nico Sánchez, Los Pumas’ top scorer, returned to his first love after 14 years and shone

And one Saturday afternoon, 14 years later, Nicolas Sanchez he put his shirt back on Tucumán Lawn Tennis. And not only did it arouse strong emotions, but it was fundamental for his team’s comprehensive victory against Huirapuca, by the NOA regional league. It was a victory for the Benjamins by 29 to 13 and Puppy He was the scorer of the afternoon showing his repertoire of kicks to hit penalties, drops and conversions. He only needed to score a try for the return to be round.

Los Pumas’ all-time top scorer added 19 points in one drop, two conversions and four penalties. He shone on offense, but he held nothing back: he was a machine for tackling rivals on a field in the provincial capital that received him filled with tickets for just 2,000 pesos for adults and free for kids. In the audience there was another Puma, also from Tucumán Mateo Carreras, who followed him from the side.

After the whistle that marked the end of the game, everyone went to hug Sánchez: teammates, rivals and the kids who caused an instant invasion of the field to capture autographs and selfies. “Everything is very exciting. It is a spectacular day for me: returning to the club and feeling this is priceless”he said surrounded by dozens of boys on the grass of the Caldera del Parque.

For Puppy His story began at the Tucumán Lawn Tenis and there seems to be the remainder of a phenomenal journey that took him through four clubs in the Top 12 of Francethe Ligue One of Japan and the possibilities that the Argentine Rugby Union has (COMMON) to select the best players: in his case it was Pampas XV, Jaguars and of course, The Pumas.

“When they introduced me they said I was coming to retire here… Well, I think I’m here for three, four more years,” Sánchez said with a laugh in the pre-match conference in which he wore the club’s uniform again after almost a decade. and a half.

Sánchez was officially presented on Friday for a bureaucratic issue related to the pass, but for a few days he had been training with his new teammates. “There are many boys who were little when I played in the Primera,” he admitted, while He insisted that he is far from retirement and wants to continue being an active Puma.

“I always had it in mind to return, but I was also always under contract. When I finished with the Japanese team in May and, not being called up (by the new coach of Los Pumas, Felipe Contepomi) in the (July international) window, it allowed me to return to the club with peace of mind,” Cachorro indicated at the conference.

From his words, then, two fundamental issues emerge: he does not consider himself in the last year of his career and he feels within the national team, where he has played 104 games and is the top scorer with 153 goals.

In the 2015 World Cup in England, in which Argentina finished in fourth place, Nico Sánchez was the captain in the clash against South Africa for bronze. He finished as the top scorer of the tournament, with 97 points (20 penalties, 13 conversions, 2 drops and a try), a mark that still belongs to him.

In his unforgettable achievement, the Tucuman fly-half relegated the South African from the top of the scoring table Handré Pollard (93 points) and the Australian Bernard Foley and the New Zealander Dan Carter (both with 82 points).

Outside the country he played with the shirts of Bordeaux, Toulon, French Stadium y Brivethe four in France, and the one in Suntory Sungoliath, in Japan. Also that of Jaguares when the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) had the majority of Los Pumas in its franchise to avoid, as is now the case, that they were distributed in different clubs in the Northern hemisphere.

Now he will wait for the opportunity with Los Pumas on one of the dates of the Rugby Championship, but with his head set on the club that is celebrating his return and with objectives focused on the regional tournament.

“It’s nice to return to the same place after so long. I feel that nothing has changed, it is the same way rugby is experienced, the feelings that exist on the field and the people… For me it is an honor and a pride to return, I always had in mind what I learned here” , he celebrated with his shirt on.

If Sánchez’s origin is in Lawn Tennis, there is also the baptism of the nickname. It was a filial transfer: his brother Benjamín, a year older, was called Dog and little Nico was then Puppy.

In Tucumán he was scrum half and also played as a center until he established himself as a fly half. At 17 he broke his jaw before a final with his club and missed the Argentine Youth Championship.

The following year he had his revenge by becoming champion in the Argentine M18 held in 2006 in Mar del Plata in the final in which the Tucumán team beat Buenos Aires 13-7 and he, with the 10 on his back, contributed one conversion and two penalties.