11/30/2020 11:22 PM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 12/01/2020 11:10
Everything happened before 15 days
.
The protagonist was Pablo Matera and the story was reduced to two historic duels against the All Blacks.
The first, that of victory and his behavior as captain before a blow to a teammate, asking the referee for respect.
The second, on Saturday, where again as captain he was the face of the "portrait" to the tribute to Diego Maradona.
Already punished for that situation, the old xenophobic and racist tweets that came to light ended up collapsing his figure.
I quickly go
from hero to villain
.
At 27 years old, at 1.92 meters tall and 111 kilos, his game
combines strength, tackle and skills
, as well as a lot of dedication and heart.
And also a strong character, which he began to build as a child, when during his early years in rugby he used to face older players and had to play more aggressively so that they did not pass him over.
A combo that led him to become the leader of Los Pumas on and off the court.
Matera was trained at Alumni, where many of his friends played.
Although it did not start from a very young age.
For many years, his favorite sport was soccer.
He played "9" and even played some tournaments in Pilar.
But in his teens he began to practice more with the oval ball at school and decided to start training at the Buenos Aires club.
When he was 17 years old he was summoned for a concentration of the 1991 litter - two years older than him - to form the Los Pumitas team for the 2011 Youth World Cup. He stayed out of the squad for that tournament, but the experience opened the eyes and made him realize how big the world of rugby really was.
"There I knew that there was something else beyond Alumni, that Argentines had selected, that there was a Junior World Cup. I wanted to be called up for that contest. As I only participated in that concentration and my colleagues had done a work process, I stayed outside. I decided to go to the World Cup the following year, the category 92. For this reason, I began to give more importance to rugby, to play more seriously. Fortunately, I was able to go, "he said a few years ago in a talk with
El Gráfico
.
Two years he would publish on Twitter the messages that came to light this Monday and would determine a turnaround in his career ...
Before he had suffered a very hard blow in his life at the age of 13, when his father Flavio passed away, who taught him to handle himself with discipline, respect and obedience.
"It was a bucket of cold water, but it helped us a lot to grow," he said.
In 2013, at just 20 years old, Pablo Matera signed with Leicester of English rugby.
That blow that gave him life marked him.
As was also marked by the way in which her mother Janina raised the family (Pablo and his three sisters Ana, Inés and Juana).
From her, the third line learned how to never lower his arms and overcome adverse situations.
After that debut with Los Pumitas in the 2012 World Cup in South Africa, a season in which he also played the Dubai Seven, he had a very busy 2013.
Because he had his first European experience when he was only 20 years old and signed for one season with Leicester, where he played 8 games and scored two tries.
That year, he played the U20 World Cup in France and made the leap to the senior team.
His debut with the Los Pumas jersey was in May against Chile and later he was part of the squad for the Rugby Championship, where he played all the matches of the tournament.
Matera arrived at Jaguares in 2016 and became captain of the Argentine franchise in 2018. AFP Photo
Since then, he had a stint at Pampas XV between 2013 and 2015. He played his first World Cup for seniors in England 2015, in which the Pumas were fourth after losing to Australia in the semis and to South Africa in the bronze match.
And he joined Jaguares in 2016, the Argentine franchise with which he was runner-up in Super Rugby last year and of which he became captain in 2018, when Mario Ledesma took over as coach.
Ledesma also took him to the captaincy of Los Pumas at the end of that same year.
With that role he had come to the Tri Nations, which this year due to the coronavirus pandemic was played entirely in Australia.
And just as his figure grew to become a giant against the All Blacks, it began to diminish when the New Zealanders seemed Argentine when they paid tribute to Diego Maradona in the face of an astonishing passivity from Los Pumas.
This Monday, three days later, he apologized for that attitude in an interview with Clarín.
A few hours later, the tweets appeared.
There was another apology.
But it already seemed too much.
At night the UAR took away the captaincy and sanctioned him.
That hero from two weeks ago today had become a villain.
GK
