LONG READ ‘You feel the interest, that motivates you too’: Guido Petti wooed by Quins' personal touch

Guido Petti glances out of the wide hotel window and casts an eye towards the lush green gardens that slope away to the River Thames beyond.

Late afternoon sunlight pierces the treeline and paints an idyllic scene that belies the rather frigid conditions in which Petti and his Argentine team-mates have just trained.

“I don’t know if it’s a home from home, but it’s good,” Petti tells RugbyPass with a smile. “It’s really nice to be in contact with everyone. We don’t see each other a lot, [unless we are] with the Pumas, so it’s good to keep in contact, not just about rugby, how our lives are going too.”

The Bordeaux Bègles lock, who does not currently have any Argentine team-mates in France, also jokes that it is nice to be able to speak Spanish.

But that is about to change. We are chatting during Argentina’s first training camp of 2025, held at The Lensbury Hotel in early March and this corner of south-west London will indeed soon be home for Petti.

Last month it was confirmed he had signed a contract with Harlequins for the 2025/26 season, a move that will see him join current Pumas colleague Rodrigo Isgró in Twickenham.

The hulking lock has already started house-hunting and sought advice from Quins past and present in Martín Landajo, Santiago García Botta and Isgró, as well as his former international skipper Agustin Creevy, who played nearby for London Irish.

As a result of those conversations, he is keen to base himself in one of the capital’s leafy southern suburbs rather than close to the club’s Guildford training base.

Rodrigo already told me the atmosphere is really nice, that they train really good, the team has a really good ambience, they get along with everyone and I know the club is ambitious too.

“I know this is going to be my place around here next year, so I’m really excited about that,” Petti adds. “It is a great opportunity for me because even though I’ve played a lot of rugby until now, it’s something new. I’m coming to the Premiership so for me it’s getting into a new thing too.

“I think I can always learn. For me a rugby career is about learning and improving every year, so I think this opportunity in this club that loves playing is really nice and I know the mentality because the coach already told me, how they work over there. I think it fits me really well too.

“I’m really excited about it. I really want to play at the Stoop because Rodrigo already told me the atmosphere is really nice too, that they train really good, the team has a really good ambience, they get along with everyone and I know the club is ambitious too.

“So for me, that’s one of the primary things when I think about moving and choosing a club. I know they are ambitious so I hope as soon as I get here, I will be able to play to the level I want to, and they expect from me, and to achieve good things with the team.”

Former Pumas scrum-half Landajo, who spent two years with Quins from 2019 to 2021, was equally glowing about the London outfit.

“He told me, ‘You cannot doubt it, it’s an amazing club, you will be really happy’,” Petti recalls. “He knows me really well so having feedback from a person that I know really well is really important.”

But crucially, Quins also made Petti feel wanted. Head coach Danny Wilson visited the second-row in Bordeaux with director of rugby Billy Millard and head of recruitment Ed Spokes to lay out their vision for him and the club.

“We had a dinner together and we spoke about rugby, about life, and it was a really nice conversation,” Petti says.

Every club has a DNA and if they can transmit it to you in person and not through a computer, and they come to you and everything, it’s much more meaningful.

“They just came for one day. I know they do it maybe for other players too, but you feel the interest, you feel their motivation and that motivates you too. So, feeling this type of connection, it really means a lot and it also speaks a lot of the human part, not just the player and that’s it.

“I think [in order] to play good rugby, the atmosphere around the person, the better it is, the better you play, and you feel part of it. It’s also nice hearing what the club expects from you or what the club is.

“Because in the end, every club has a DNA and if they can transmit it to you in person and not through a computer, and they come to you and everything, it’s much more meaningful.”

As he glanced around the team room earlier this month, Petti was surrounded by players who have already tested themselves in the Premiership cauldron.

Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester, Leicester, Newcastle and Saracens were all represented at the Lensbury, and Petti cannot wait to experience the challenge of England’s top-flight.

“Any player who plays in the Premierships [says] that it’s a really competitive tournament, that it’s really tough too,” he says. “Everybody told me Harlequins is a really good team, so I think everything fitted for me to say yes as soon as I got the [offer].”

Petti’s impending move to the Stoop is a timely one, too, given Argentina are scheduled to play across the road at Allianz Stadium twice before the end of the year.

Los Pumas will be the home team for the first of those, against South Africa in the Rugby Championship on 4 October, before they return to the away changing room to take on England seven weeks later.

It will be a really nice opportunity for all of the Argentinean people around here to get to see us too. Every time Argentineans are there, it is just crazy, people shouting and cheering for us.

It is a ground Petti knows well, having started Argentina’s World Cup semi-final defeat by Australia in 2015 as a fresh-faced 20-year-old. He has not played there for seven years and never won a Test match in TW2, but is confident Pumas fans will help make it feel like Buenos Aires.

“Twickenham is an historic stadium,” Petti says. “We know rugby was born here so for us it means a lot. It’s an enormous opportunity against an incredible team like South Africa that are the two-time [defending] world champions.

“It will also be a really nice opportunity for all of the Argentinean people that is around here, that is in England or in Europe, to get to see us too. Every time Argentineans are there, it is just crazy, people shouting and cheering for us.

“Whenever you put the jersey on you feel it, but having the people outside looking at you and cheering for you, when you hear them it’s really meaningful. For sure it’s a little plus for the motivation that you need in every rugby game.”

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi and his players used their three-day summit in south-west London to set goals for the year ahead on the back of an encouraging 2024.

World Cup semi-finalists again in 2023, Los Pumas beat New Zealand, Australia and South Africa en route to their highest Rugby Championship points total last year and are ranked fifth in the world, above England, Scotland and Australia.

“As a team we are really ambitious, but we try to go week to week,” Petti says. “I don’t know if we are thinking about the rankings, really just every day about trying to improve.

“That’s the mentality that takes us where we are, and I think we have a really nice year ahead of us.”

I cannot imagine myself, like any rugby player that is competitive, going into a game saying, ‘Oh, let’s see what happens’ and not wanting to win.

Their calendar includes a Dublin date with the Lions on 20 June and a two-Test home series against England in July before the Rugby Championship and November assignments in Cardiff and Edinburgh as well as Twickenham.

Might Los Pumas return to Europe in October in the hunt for Rugby Championship silverware? Petti plays down such talk.

“I don’t think we speak about being the champions,” he insists. “We just go game to game. Of course, everyone wants to win so I cannot imagine myself, like any rugby player that is competitive, going into a game saying, ‘Oh, let’s see what happens’ and not wanting to win.

“Everybody wants to win but I think the best way to do it is getting week by week the best out of us and really focusing on the match and not the competition.”

Before Petti can turn his full attention to Argentina, or his move to Harlequins, however, he first has to focus on what could be a glorious end to his time in Bordeaux.

UBB currently sit second in the Top 14 table, one point behind Toulouse following an impressive 32-24 victory over the reigning champions last Sunday in which Petti played the full 80 minutes.

That result went some way to healing the pain of their nine-try, 59-3 dismantling in last year’s Top 14 final and keeps them on course for a home semi-final with seven regular-season matches to play.

Bordeaux also host Ulster in the last 16 of the Heineken Champions Cup a week on Sunday, ensuring Petti has an opportunity to sign off in style from five years in France he says have made him better “as a person, as a rugby player, as a leader, as everything”.

“It’s really important, it’s been almost five years, and I want to finish good,” Petti admits. “I played a lot of semi-finals. Last year we got to play a final of the Top 14, we played also semi-finals of the European Cup [in 2021, also losing to Toulouse].

“I got the opportunity to go through all of these years getting into the semi-finals but of course when you arrive every time to the semi-finals and you don’t get the trophy, it’s really disappointing, even if it’s a good year and you did your best.

“So, I hope this year I [can] give everything to the team so I can finish this amazing experience I had in France in the best of ways, and I can take something home and hopefully start another great experience with Harlequins in July.”

The Rugby Championship is coming to London this Autumn, with Argentina hosting Rugby World Cup winners South Africa on 4 October at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. Secure your seat here.