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40-year-old and bona fide Argentina Los Pumas legend Agustín Creevy retired from rugby just before this year's Rugby Championship, and as we take a game-week break in one of the most fascinating championships in years, we look at his legacy. After having made his international debut in 2005 against Japan as a flanker, surely Creevy is one of the modern era's greats.
40-year-old and bona fide Argentina Los Pumas legend Agustín Creevy retired from rugby just before this year's Rugby Championship, and as we take a game-week break in one of the most fascinating championships in years, we look at his legacy. After having made his international debut in 2005 against Japan as a flanker, surely Creevy is one of the modern era's greats.
The numbers don't lie; four Rugby World Cups, the first player to make 100 appearances for Los Pumas, and he represented 10 professional rugby clubs across his playing career! He was a joy to watch for all of the ugly, beautiful, this sport has to offer, uncompromising and abrasive.
You don't have to cast your memory that far back to think of his heroics in coming out of retirement at 39 years old to help his country in The Rugby Championship, where he played 3 games and claimed his first win over the All Blacks in Wellington, New Zealand on August 10 2024.
He scored a try after coming off the bench in the 69th minute in the 38-30 victory, which saw five lead changes in the second half. It was his seventh try in tests and secured Argentina’s third win over New Zealand in 42 meetings (with the fourth coming this month - and the first time in Argentina). He said at the time, “I’m 39 and this is the first time for me winning a game in New Zealand.” He had waited a decade in the Los Pumas colours before scoring his first Test try.
After hanging up his international rugby boots, the former test captain signed to play in the United Rugby Championship (URC) at Benetton. The move saw him having competed in elite professional rugby competitions around the world - the Top 14 in France, the English Premiership, Super Rugby, and the URC.
He also ended his Los Pumas career with records in his name: the most caps (110), the most RWC caps (22), and the most tests as captain (51) for his country. He played at Rugby World Cups 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023, and he was a two-time semi-finalist.
The decision to retire from all rugby in 2025 had a sense of poetic justice that the Argentines can muster. Creevy said he has no regrets and played his final game at his local club, San Luis, in his home town in La Plata, which honoured him with a special board with two pegs to physically hang his boots - this is how all retirements should be acknowledged.
Even though his club lost on the day to Belgrano Athletic in Buenos Aires’s Top 12 Championship, he will have cherished ending it where it all began as a 12-year-old on the edge of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. He was 21 when he made his senior club debut in April 2004, before earning his first Los Pumitas U21 cap.
Creevy said, “I wanted to play one final game in the club that formed me as a player, where I made some of my best mates. San Luis is my life. I was happy here, and the club has been by my side when I needed them,” he said on a grey Saturday afternoon.
It is not a goodbye, only the end of an era; I am not leaving as I will continue to help from wherever I am needed.”
He had stints at Biarritz, Montpellier, Clermont, Worcester Warriors, Jaguares, London Irish, Sale Sharks, Benetton, and of course, San Luis. Of note was his dedication to Worcester Warriors when he stayed loyal after they were relegated and saw them earn promotion back to Premiership rugby.
His ability in the loose play as a hooker and his fetching ability as he epitomised the modern-day era hooker should be no surprise, as he earned his first two Los Pumas caps at openside flanker. It was coach Santiago Phelan who convinced him to move to hooker after missing out on RWC 2007. He was behind another legend, Mario Ledesma, in the hooker pecking order when he played in his first Rugby World Cup in 2011.
It was a new era as Argentina moved to being fully professional in its domestic club scene, and he was one of the first Argentine-based professionals as part of the Pampas XV that played in South Africa. They were a breeding ground for future Jaguares and Los Pumas players.
He spent time in France and in England before joining the Jaguares side, which joined Super Rugby in 2016, all the way to the final loss against the Crusaders in 2019.
He would also have a huge influence on the current Puma captain and centurion Julián Montoya, who himself had to wait patiently behind Creevy in the #2 shirt. Creevy himself had only 5 Test starts in his first 32 caps.
He also captained Los Pumas to their first-ever victory over the Springboks when they beat them 37-25 on the 50th anniversary of their inaugural tour to South Africa in Durban. He then led them to their first victory in a Rugby Championship match, beating Australia 21-17 in Mendoza in October 2014.
Through the highs and lows of being with clubs which were relegated, folded financially and even at loggerheads with former teammate Ledesma, who was his third national team coach, he returned from international wilderness when Michael Cheika replaced Ledesma as the Los Pumas Head Coach. Creevy would get the chance to be involved in his fourth Rugby World Cup in France.
He also earned his 100th cap in 2023 against South Africa to become the first Puma to reach the milestone as an international centurion.
Creevy said on his final day with his local club, “I am who I am in rugby thanks to my club. I have my family and my friends here. Rugby gave me the joy of playing for Los Pumas, and that was the flag I always chased. All I did was to play for Argentina.”
What is next for the Los Pumas legend and centurion - he has dabbled with YouTube and media work - we don't foresee TikTok dances in his future, but his honest and direct and charismatic demeanour might be refreshing to keep an eye on.
As a parting shot when he retired, he already questioned the hypocrisy of the values the sport claims to love and die by, saying in an interview, "there are a lot of sons of bitches inside rugby and outside of it."
He won't go quietly into the night. Vamos and gracias, Agustín Creevy.