Argentinian tighthead prop Gastón Cortes played in Major League Rugby during the 2021 season. He represented the Toronto Arrows for his entire MLR career.

Born and raised in Córdoba in central Argentina, Gastón Cortes grew up playing with the local Córdoba Athletic Club. He represented Córdoba A.C. until 2012, earning his test debut as part of the Argentina side that won the 2011 South American Rugby Championship, earning further appearances for Argentina in the same tournament the following year, which they also won. Later in 2012, Cortes headed to Europe where he had signed with the Bristol Bears in the English 2nd tier Championship at the time, where he earned over 100 appearances between 2012-18.

During his 6 seasons in Bristol, Cortes helped the Bears to finish 1st in the Championship for 3 successive seasons between 2013-2016 and after losing in the playoffs on the first two occasions, finally earn promotion to the Premiership as Champions in 2015/16. Bristol would be relegated from the Premiership the following season, but Cortes and the Bears once again earned promotion to the Premiership in 2017/18, where they have remained ever since. It was in 2018 that Cortes would earn his 5th and final test cap for Argentina, against New Zealand 6 years after his last run out for Los Pumas.

Ahead of the 2018/19 season Gastón Cortes moved from the Bristol Bears to the Leicester Tigers, where he played for 2 seasons that included a brief short-term loan to the URC’s Glasgow Warriors in 2020. Following his time in Leicester, then 34yo Gastón Cortes headed across the pond and signed with the Toronto Arrows for the 2021 MLR season which they played in Georgia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Despite a 2-game suspension for a red card, he earned 13 appearances with the Canadian franchise, starting 8 times and adding a try along with 60 tackles on defence. At the conclusion of the 2021 MLR season, Cortes quietly retired from professional rugby. He is once of a number of Toronto Arrows players that were never able to play a game in Toronto.