Facundo Isa

Facundo Isa had a signed agreement with Stade Toulousain in 2017 when Toulon came back in for him. Mourad Boudjellal persuaded him, and he went to the Mediterranean instead, joining Lyon as a medical joker in the meantime.

He plays at the base of the scrum for Pau, is 1.88m and 113kg, and is 32.

Santiago del Estero produced him, in a family of basketball, volleyball and figure skating. He played basketball, then football, and only found rugby at fourteen, when opponents on a football pitch suggested he try it. To train with the Argentine federation’s development programme he took a long bus journey between Santiago and Tucumán three times a week, which cost him time at school and delayed his diploma.

That programme also produced Julián Montoya, Tomás Lavanini, Pablo Matera and Guido Petti. Isa was in the Argentina under-20 side at sixteen and made his club first-team debut at seventeen, on the day the club went up to the provincial first division.

His first attempt at France, at nineteen, produced one appearance off the bench. The back row ahead of him held Steffon Armitage, Juan Smith and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe. He went home, played for the Pampas and the Jaguares, and was at the 2015 World Cup by 21.

Mario Ledesma left him out of the 2019 tournament entirely. He started four matches at the 2023 one, in which Argentina reached the semi-finals.

A serious knee injury cost him the end of 2018, and he was central to Toulon’s Challenge Cup win over Glasgow in 2023. He joined Pau in July 2025, with a reputation as one of the heaviest ball-carriers in the Top 14.