Creevy inks Premiership deal 13 days after being linked with London Irish

Argentina international Agustin Creevy has joined London Irish with immediate effect. It was July 29 when the hooker was first linked with the Gallagher Premiership club, RugbyPass reporting the Ole story that the 35-year-old would be returning to England. 

Thirteen days later, that deal has now been confirmed, resulting in Creevy becoming the latest high profile signing at London Irish following their recent recruitment of Rob Simmons, the 100-cap Australian second row. 

“I'm looking forward to joining London Irish and playing in England once again,” said Creevy. “Declan (Kidney) spoke very highly of the club, the people and the direction they want to go. I can’t wait to join up with my teammates and to get stuck in.”

Irish boss Kidney added: “Agustin comes to London Irish with a fantastic amount of club and international experience. Hopefully he can help to continue the journey that the club is on.”

The front row, who has 89 Test caps, has captained his country on 49 occasions. He converted to hooker from flanker in 2009 and has since long been a permanent fixture in the Los Pumas squad. 

He previously played professionally in England, featuring at Worcester Warriors from 2013 to 2015 before returning to Argentina to become the first captain of Los Jaguares, the side that reached the 2019 Super Rugby final. Additional experience in Europe came at hooker for Montpellier and Clermont and at flanker for Biarritz.

Creevy joined Montpellier after RWC 2011, a switch that coincided with Mario Ledesma’s retirement. With it, Creevy and Eusebio Guinazu became the hookers over the following seasons with Creevy becoming first choice and captain in 2014. Under his leadership, Argentina reached the semi-finals of RWC 2015.

Creevy’s arrival at London Irish sees the Exiles’ amount of different nationalities grow to 10. The squad currently has players from England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Fiji, Zimbabwe, Samoa, Tonga and now Argentina.