Felipe Contepomi

Felipe Contepomi (born 20 August 1977 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine rugby union footballer. A fly-half and centre, he currently plays for Toulon of the French Top 14; he made his debut for the club in November 2009 after recovering from a torn ACL suffered in a 2008–09 Heineken Cup match with his previous club, Magners League side Leinster. Contepomi has played more than 60 games for Argentina, was an occasional captain of the side early in his career, and is now the full-time captain after the international retirement of Agustín Pichot. His twin brother Manuel is also a Puma.

Career

Contepomi started playing rugby for Newman in Buenos Aires. In 2003 he joined Leinster from Bristol on a four-year contract following Bristol's relegation from the Zurich Premiership.

He played a major role in Leinster's run in the 2006 Heineken Cup, helping Leinster to a 41–35 win over Cup holders Toulouse, scoring 21 points in the process and winning the man of the match award. That year he was top scorer in both the Celtic League and Heineken Cup.

In late January 2006, Contepomi's girlfriend, Paula, gave birth to their daughter, Catalina. Only hours later, Contepomi played for Leinster the Magners League match against Border Reivers, a game in which he went on to score 22 points.

In November of that year, Agustín Pichot said that Contepomi was a better player than All Black fly-half, Dan Carter, the...
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