Mario Ledesma

Early days

Ledesma started his senior career as a flanker playing for Curupaytí in Buenos Aires in 1990. It was there he converted to hooker where he gained many accolades and praised throughout his playing career. In 1992, he became an U19 Argentina international, and represented his Buenos Aires district in youth level before making the step up to senior level in 1994. He made his international debut against Uruguay in 1996 during the Pan American Championship. By 1997, he became a regular in the Pumas starting XV and even captained the side against Japan in September 1998. In 1999, he was selected for his first Rugby World Cup campaign, where he started in every game; including their 47–26 quarter-final defeat to France.

Professional in France

By 2001, Ledesma earned his first professional contract when he signed with Narbonne for two seasons. Ahead of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, where Argentina failed to advance past the group stage, Ledesma signed with Castres Olympique. It was with Castres where Ledesma gained his first experience at the top level in Europe, the Heineken Cup. By 2005, he earned over 35 caps for Argentina and 80 professional appearances at French club level, and later signed with Clermont Auvergne ahead of the newly formed Top14 competition.

On 12 November 2005, Ledesma earned his 50th test cap during Argentina's 23–19 victory over Scotland. This was followed by a 39–22 victory over Italy the following week to earn a clean sweep on their 2005 end-of-year tour campaign.

The 2006/07 season proved successful for Ledesma. Not only did he help his country earn their first win over England since 1997, but he helped his club claim the 2006–07 European Challenge Cup title, their first taste of European silver since 1999. Clermont also made their first appearance in a French final since 2001, only to lose to Stade Français 23–18, after a 78th minute try by Radike Samo. That same year, Argentina made it to the semi-finals of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, after topping their pool with victories over hosts France (17–12) and Ireland (30–15). In the quarter-finals, Argentina defeated Scotland 19–13 to make their first ever semi-final, only to lose to South Africa, 37–13. However, they defeated France, 34–10, again in the Bronze final, to finish third and reach their highest World Rugby Ranking.

The next three years saw Clermont make three consecutive finals; losing to Toulouse 26–20 in 2008 and Perpignan 22–13 in 2009. By 2010, Clermont finally claimed the title, defeating the holders Perpignan 19–6. Ledesma also helped his side advance to the knock-out stage of the 2009–10 Heineken Cup, although lose to Leinster 29–28 in the quarter-final.

Retirement

By 2011, Ledesma announced he would retire at the end of the season, and his last professional club game was a 29–6 loss to in the semi-final of the 2010–11 Top 14 season. However, his career hadn't ended yet, for he was selected for his fourth World Cup campaign in 2011. Ledesma was one of the leaders of Los Pumas' pack, and helped his side finish the pool stage 2nd, losing only to England. In the quarter-final, saw Argentina face hosts New Zealand, who won the game 33–10. When Ledesma came of at the 70th minute, it was his final appearance for his nation. During the World Cup, The Daily Telegraph considered Ledesma as one of the best in his position at the 2011 World Cup.^[1]

Coaching in France

Following the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and Ledesma's retirement, Ledesma returned to France to begin his coaching career. He joined Stade Français as forwards coach under Michael Cheika, where he helped improve the teams positioning to seventh in the Top 14 and guided them to top seed in the 2011–12 European Challenge Cup. However, they were knocked out by Toulon in the semi-finals, losing 32–29.

In June 2012, Ledesma joined the Montpellier coaching set-up under the leadership of Fabien Galthié.^[2] In his first season at the club, Montpellier maintained their position from the following year, bowing out in the quarter-finals to Castres 25–12. Whilst in Europe, they were eliminated by Clermont 36–14 at the same stage. However, the 2013–14 Top 14 season saw Montpellier finish second on the table at the end of the regular season, and bypassed the quarter-finals to meet Castres in the semi-finals. However, like before, Castres finished on top, 22–19. The 2014/15 season started promising for Montpellier, winning six out of their opening nine games. However, back to back defeats in the European Rugby Champions Cup, started a slump at the club, losing a further three games at Top14 level. In mid November, Ledesma resigned from his position at Montpellier after a poor run of form.^[3] The then head coach, Galthié soon followed a month later.

Australia

In January 2015, Ledesma rejoined his former coach Michael Cheika, and joined the New South Wales Waratahs Super Rugby franchise ahead of the 2015 season.^[4] He joined the side as a set-piece consultant, and by March 2015, just a month into the season, the Waratahs scrum made great strides.^[5] By round 15, the Waratahs were sitting comfortably in top place in the Australian conference, and with their win in round 18, their place were confirmed in the semi-finals, bypassing the quarter-finals. However, the Waratahs lost to eventual Champions the Highlanders 37–15.

In July 2015, Ledesma followed Cheika to the Wallabies, after being appointed as forwards coach ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.^[6] He helped make the Wallabies scrum a strength rather than the weakness it was perceived as. It was the scrum that helped the Wallabies claim the 2015 Rugby Championship title and top their pool in the World Cup, with victories over England and Wales. With wins over Scotland and Argentina in the quarter and semi finals, the Wallabies made their first World Cup final since 2003, where they faced the All Blacks; who won the game 34–17.

Ledesma remained with the Wallabies as forwards coach until the end of the 2017 season, after he was appointed head coach of the Jaguares in October 2017.^[7]

Jaguares

It would be his first stint as head coach, after six years of assisting at the highest level. His first competitive match in charge was a 28–20 defeat to the Stormers, which were followed by a two further defeats. However, in round 4, Ledesma gained his first competitive victory, knocking over his former side, the Waratahs, 38–28. Between round 8 and round 17, Ledesma led his side to seven consecutive win (between two byes), the longest winning streak the team have ever had. It was that streak that helped the Jaguares to earn a place in the quarter-finals for the first time, although were knocked out by the Lions after losing 40–23.

Argentina national coach

After Daniel Hourcade resigned as Pumas head coach in June 2018, it was speculated that the new head coach would be either Ledesma or Gonzalo Quesada. However, on 1 August, it was officially announced that Ledesma would replaced Hourcade as Pumas head coach, with the latter being announced as Ledesma's replacement at the Jaguares on 8 August.^[8] Ledesma signed a three-year deal with the UAR, which would see him make a six consecutive appearance at a World Cup across playing and coaching during the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

International matches as head coach

Matches (2018–Present)
Matches	Date	Opposition	Venue	Score (Arg.–Opponent)	Competition	Captain	World Ranking
2018
1	18 August	South Africa	Jonsson Kings Park Stadium, Durban	21–34	Rugby Championship	Agustín Creevy	10th
2	25 August		Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza	32–19			9th
3	8 September	New Zealand	Trafalgar Park, Nelson	24–46			9th
4	15 September	Australia	Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast	23–19			9th
5	29 September	New Zealand	Estadio Velez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires	17–35			9th
6	6 October	Australia	Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta	–
7	10 November	Ireland	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	–	End-of-year tour
8	17 November	France	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Villeneuve-d'Ascq	–
9	24 November	Scotland	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh	–

Record by country

Opponent	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	Win ratio (%)	For	Against
Australia	7000100000000000000♠1	7000100000000000000♠1	5000000000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠0	7002100000000000000♠100.00	23	19
South Africa	7000200000000000000♠2	7000100000000000000♠1	5000000000000000000♠0	7000100000000000000♠1	07001500000000000000♠50.00	53	53
New Zealand	7000200000000000000♠2	5000000000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠0	7000200000000000000♠2	005000000000000000000♠0.00	41	81
TOTAL	7000500000000000000♠5	7000200000000000000♠2	5000000000000000000♠0	7000300000000000000♠3	07001400000000000000♠40.00	117	153

Playing

Coaching