Flying home from the Rugby World Cup in 2015, where he had gone as a 15-year-old fan with his father Guillermo, older brother Manuel and a number of friends, Juan Martín González told his father that he wanted to play at the highest level.
“We went to two Los Pumas games, the first in Leicester against Namibia and the quarter-final against Ireland at the Millennium (in Cardiff). I loved the whole experience, everything,” he said on a sunny afternoon in Mendoza, the town where he was born and started working towards that dream.
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From 2012 his city had hosted Test matches and he adored attending those games, seeing Los Pumas do their stuff and everything that they meant. That trip to the UK clarified his sporting goals and with the family support of his former Rugby playing father and a prolific athlete mother he set about making them come to life.
His siblings are all into sport, Manuel, 26, and 12 year-old Fermín play for Marista and 14-year-old Clara is a field hockey player.
As a family they were either at training and games or on their way to training and games. Juan Martin first picked up a Rugby ball as a five year old.
His rangy physique, ball-handling abilities and long legs had coaches keen to have him join their team.
Miguel Bertranou, the former Puma flanker and father of scrumhalf Gonzalo, in charge of the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR) High Performance centre in Mendoza has fond memories of working with a young González, who in a couple of years grew 26 centimetres.
With Argentina hosting the 2018 Youth Olympics in the lead up to the Rio Games, and Rugby Sevens one of the events, the UAR started a country-wide search for players that were to be U18 at the time the Games were played.
“We first saw him in a sevens trial aged 15 and instantly recognised his huge potential,” he recalls.
The two-year search ended with González as captain of the team that went on to win Gold Medal in Buenos Aires, and included a future World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, Marcos Moneta.
“He had everything to make it big in Rugby, but his pathway was uncertain. Was he a Sevens or XVs player? When he started he was very tall but slim so a lot would all depend on his physical evolution.
“It was also a question of whether to make him a centre or a flanker. He had good hands, speed, explosive legs.”
History says he was told to stuck with XVs after hanging his Sevens gold medal in his bedroom and his 191cm frame filled with muscle and strength, now weighing over 103kgs. The decision was simple: loose forward.
“He was very focused on being the best possible player, very methodical and responsible. He was different to kids his age. And he was very quick to pick-up all that he we taught him.”
Not only that, as his former provincial Under 18s coach Eusebio Guiñazú added: “He was so responsible and focused and that made everybody around him better.”
A leader of the future, clearly.
Soon after finishing his Sevens’ days, he joined the Junior Pumas and was a standout at the World Under 20s Championship played in Rosario, Argentina, in 2019 the last until the one that is finishing in South Africa.
González didn’t travel to faraway Japan as a fan, but that might be the last Rugby World Cup he misses in the next few cycles.
His next steps were affected, as the rest of the world was, by COVID-19 and the pandemic.
With little senior Rugby, he travelled to Sydney with Los Pumas in 2020, but did not play in The Rugby Championship. He did learn a lot as a wide-eyed kid.
After winning the 2021 Superliga Americana de Rugby, the South American professional league now revamped to Super Rugby Americas and expanded to include teams from the USA, he was snapped by London Irish.
By the time he arrived there in 2021, he had scored a try in his Test debut from the bench against Romania in Bucharest. It took him three minutes to dot down.
There was no looking back for González. English Rugby made him better and in a forward pack spoilt for riches, he soon earned a place.
Last year confirmed all that was expected from the shy, humble lad who enjoys being with friends and family and misses his city and the nearby mountains.
“He is a player that leads with example. Talks when needed, only what is needed and is very intelligent,” says Bertranou. “He is not a leader that says, he leads by example.
“Not only that, he is a fantastic guy, very responsible, mature and always wanting to be better.”
When González plays the Wallabies, he will not be too fazed. He is full of confidence, knowing that he has done the hard yards.
Last year he scored a try at home in Mendoza, when Australia came from behind to win, and a week later scored against the All Blacks when they were beaten in Christchurch.
At 22, he turns 23 in December, he hoped to play against Michael Hooper, as we speak in Mendoza the week leading to the opening of The Rugby Championship (Hooper would be ruled out with a calf injury).
“He is a world class player. Standing beside him in a game would be great,” he says being economical in his words.
“The Wallabies are a physical team and they have good players. With them, there are enjoyable games, in which you run a lot.
“They will want to win and obviously, in the year of Rugby World Cup, everyone wants to lay a marker and will be doing their biggest effort.”
Only fate or injury, will deprive him of the dream of playing in France later this year.
“I am enjoying every moment. Now is time for the Rugby Championship,” he adds.
As the first player born this millennium to play for Los Pumas, he is one of the young up-and-coming stars of world Rugby.
With the folding of London Irish, he is without a club, though not for long.
Expect an announcement from a big club soon, as many are keen for his services.
Before that, hopefully Rugby World Cup with family and friends in the stands.
“I don’t know if they have booked their trip,” he says. “Maybe they did and didn’t tell me.”
