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Exeter confirm their signing of 'valuable asset' Franco Molina

Franco Molina on the carry for Argentina last weekend in South Africa (Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

Exeter have confirmed the signing of Argentina lock Franco Molina four weeks after RugbyPass exclusively reported that the 27-year-old would be joining the Devon-based Gallagher Premiership club.

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The second row has just completed his first involvement in The Rugby Championship, making six appearances for Los Pumas – three as a starter – and was a second half try-scorer in his country’s August 10 win over the All Blacks in Wellington.

Exeter were in the market for a lock following the shoulder and knee operations to Wales’ Dafydd Jenkins ahead of the 2024/25 Premiership season which has started with two successive defeats for the Chiefs.

A statement read: “Exeter Chiefs have recruited talented Argentinian international lock Franco Molina for the 2024/25 season. The Puma powerhouse arrives in Devon having never played club rugby outside of South America before.

“The second rower joins the ranks at Sandy Park from Super Liga Americana de Rugby side Dogos XV, where he has made 23 appearances. Prior to his time with the Cordoba-based side, he plied his trade with the Jaguares as well as a spell in Chile with Selknam.

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“Originally added to his first Argentina roster in 2022, Molina made his international Test debut earlier this year against France in Mendoza. Since then, he has featured for the Pumas in the Rugby Championship, including in the historic victory over New Zealand in August.

“Molina joins a group of six other Argentinians who have represented Exeter, the most recent being Santiago Grondona during the 2022/23 season. Most notably, Santiago Cordero was a part of Chiefs following their first Premiership triumph in 2017.”

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Exeter director of Rugby Rob Baxter said: “People are aware that we started the season with a couple of injuries, including a relatively long-term injury to Dafydd. At the start of the season, we were also assessing a possible injury to Christ Tshiunza and Lewis Pearson.

“So, we knew we were stretched and not overly resourced in the back five of the scrum anyway, so I started looking at potential options for a quality player who was ready to play. Franco was available and he was easy to watch as he was playing for Argentina in The Rugby Championship.

“He showed some really good qualities playing in a very good Argentinian side. And so, he is here with us now and we are delighted he is getting up to speed straight away this week, so he should be available pretty quickly for us.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him play – he will be a valuable asset for us this season. And it gives him a great opportunity to play in the Premiership and test himself in Europe.”

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Molina added: “I signed for Exeter because I wanted to go to a club that is really competitive and that makes me continue to improve as a player. The Chiefs are the right place for that. The prospect of playing in the Premiership really excites me, it’s a very difficult tournament that demands the maximum week by week.

“I can’t wait for my debut. This is going to be my first experience in English rugby, so I just hope to enjoy it to the fullest and play as many minutes as possible.”

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H
Hellhound 20 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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