{"id":665706,"date":"2025-12-31T23:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/665706\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T23:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:58:12","slug":"newcastle-red-bulls-continue-shopping-spree-with-18-stone-argentine-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/665706\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcastle Red Bulls continue shopping spree with 18-stone Argentine international"},"content":{"rendered":"

Argentina lock Franco Molina has signed a two-season deal with PREM side Newcastle Red Bulls, following a brief stint at Australian side Western Force.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cordoba-born Molina will play out the 2026 Super Rugby season in Australia before making the move to Tyneside in the summer.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-5 forward is already familiar with England\u2019s top flight, having made 17 appearances for Exeter Chiefs last season, including starting the Premiership Cup final in their loss to Bath.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old has also played 20 times for Los Pumas, including victories over New Zealand, Australia, France and the British & Irish Lions. He most recently appeared off the bench for Argentina during their Autumn Nations Series loss to England.<\/p>\n

Speaking about his upcoming move, he said: \u201cI\u2019m incredibly honoured to be joining Newcastle Red Bulls \u2013 a club that has such a rich affinity with Argentinian players. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my conversation with Jonny Petrie and Neil McIlroy, it is obvious that this is a really exciting time to be involved with the club, and I cannot wait for what is to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to meeting my team-mates and achieving something special there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcastle Red Bulls\u2019 sporting general manager Neil McIlroy said: \u201cFranco has built up a good body of international experience over the last few years, playing in many big games for Argentina.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows the Gallagher PREM from his time with Exeter, and his set-piece ability will stand us in good stead as we look to put this club on a clear upward trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Revealed: The \u2018power teams\u2019 warning Stuart Lancaster gave to World Rugby referees<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Red Bull Rebuild<\/p>\n

Molina is yet another big name set to make his way to Tyneside, alongside former Chiefs teammate Josh Hodge, and All Black international Hoskins Sotutu.<\/p>\n

While Newcastle are investing heavily in bringing external talent into the club, there\u2019s also a huge effort being made to keep the developing talent from moving elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Following Hodge\u2019s re-signing with the club, Newcastle Red Bulls\u2019 sporting general manager Neil McIlroy said: \u201cThere\u2019s understandable frustration around the number of players who have developed in Newcastle\u2019s academy, but who have moved away to fulfil their ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to Newcastle Red Bulls being a club where homegrown talent can flourish, so that the Josh Hodges of the future will not feel the need to go elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Springboks hopeful to miss Ulster v Munster encounter due to injury<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Argentina lock Franco Molina has signed a two-season deal with PREM side Newcastle Red Bulls, following a brief…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[10105,225,2466,12,6875,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-665706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-newcastle","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-premiership","13":"tag-rugby","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115816897287827270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}