Argentina

[tigerland12]

I assume Fernandez-Lobbe will step in as new captain, so no loss there. They have options at 12 with Martin Rodriguez, Santiago Fernandez and Marcelo Bosch all more then capable.

Contepomi has been a gret servant to Argentine rugby on the field, but definatly retiring at the right time (4 year cycle). For Argentina's sake and neutral observers, I hope Juan Martin "El Mago" Hernandez is stating fit and firing for once in the past 2 years, at one point he was the second best fly half in the world.

 

[tigerland12]

I don't see anything wrong with Contepomi playing during the June tests even if he's not available for TRC. Any country will want it's best players to play as long as possible and as many games as they can. One of the big problems for Argentina, with regard to player availability, is that a lot of their top players play in France and England where the clubs have more power than in any other country. The clubs there don't bend over backwards to ensure the success of their national team and when they do have to release players for their own nation they reply heavily on their foreign stars. Because of that they rarely agree to clauses that would release foreign players for tests.

"For the Four Nations [Rugby Championship], we'll have to prepare in July. The Union Argentina de Rugby has reached agreements with the [European] clubs: those [European-based players] who play in the June tests will not play in the [Rugby Championship]," Contepomi told reporters ahead of the rematch against France.

So that would mean Roncero is the other big name who won't be playing, but he is in that retirement zone aswell. This is the 24 man squad that Phelan has named for the Championship, before an extra 8 join later.
http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023....gentine-squad-for-rugby-championship.html?m=1

 

[kronic]

Good to see France pulled some performance from their arse overnight, beating Los Pumas 10 - 49.

Highlights: http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/videohub/video/clipDeportes?id=1551333&cc=7586

 

[Manuel]

Full test matches Argentina-France:

Commentray in french.

 

[Manuel]

from http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.fr/2012/06/33-man-pumas-squad-named-for-training.html

33 man Pumas squad named for training in the USA

​

After waiting for the greater part of a decade it is almost upon us. Los Pumas´ long awaited debut in the Southern Hemiphere´s premier rugby event, The Rugby Championship is now about to enter its final stages of preperation. While Argentina defeated Australia in Buenos Aires in 1997 and made the Quarter Finals of Rugby World Cup 1999 it was Argentina´s results in 2004 and 2005 which really counted. Home wins over France in 2002 and 2003 were largely ignored as were away wins overScotland and Wales in 2001. Argentina´s win in Marseilles vs France in 2004 was the start of real change and was followed by a draw vs the British and Irish Lions in 2005 as well as a win over England in London in 2006. At this time the global rugby public tended to agree that Argentina could no longer be cast aside. It, however, took Los Pumas´ bronze medal winning performance at Rugby World Cup 2007 to make the difference and actually be invited into an expanded Tri Nations competition.

​

Rodrigo Roncero to go out in style​

When Argentina debut vs South Africa in Cape Town it will have virtually been five years since Los Pumas gave the rugby world the biggest wakeup call, possibly of all time,in defeating hosts France to open Rugby World Cup 2007. So much time has passed that of the twenty-two players representing Argentina at the Stade de France that evening only six players have been named in Santiago Phelan´ thirty-three man squad to travel to Pensacola, Florida, USA this coming Sunday. The survivors are Horacio Agulla, Patricio Albacete, Juan Martín Hernández, Juan Fernández Lobbe, Juan Leguizamón and Rodrigo Roncero. The squad features one other player from Rugby World Cup 2007, Marcos Ayerza who has been kept on the Pumas bench for most of his test career due to Roncero holding down the tighthead prop position permanently. The inclusion of Roncero, now aged 35, is not down to letting him end his career playing in The Rugby Championship. No doubt, he deserves it but, rather, he has simply been selected as he still has it in him as he showed for Stade Français this past season and for Argentina vs Italy earlier this month.

​

Secondrower Patricio Albacete​

Roncero and Ayerza head the front row selections with long time serving Pumas tighthead prop, Martín Scelzo having retired from international duty. He was replaced in 2011 by Juan Figallo who went on to be a key player at Rugby World Cup 2011, winning the award for being the best player in Pool B. There is a return for Racing Métro prop, Juan Orlandi and also a place for the uncapped Maximilano Bustos who went ot New Zealand 2011 but recieved no game time. The three other frontrowers in the thirty-three man squad are all hookers - Agustín Creevy, Bruno Postiglioni and Eusebio Guiñazú. The latter of the two are also props with one of them set to be Creevy´ deputy in The Rugby Championship and the other likely to miss out on selection when the squad is cut to thirty players. Patricio Albacete leads the secondrow and is line to quite likely lead the team with either him or Juan Fernández Lobbe to be given the honor. Albacete is joiend by Manuel Carizza and Tomás Vallejos as the specialist secondrowers while Julio Farías Cabello has been selected for both the second and backrow positions. Joining Fernández Lobbe and Farías Cabello in the backrow are four players - Juan Leguizamón, Tomás De La Vega, Tomás Leonardí and Leonardo Senatore. Leguizamón and Senatore featured in the World Cup Quarter Final vs New Zealand.

​

Hernández is ready to fire ​

A fully fit Juan Martín Hernández leads the backs in what is a very exciting time for global rugby fans following his long term injury problems which have kept him out nof international rugby since June 2009. Now, however, he is back and 100%. he will be joined by Santiago Fernández and Nicolás Sánchez as the specialist flyhalves with Exeter´ Ignacio Mieres having missed out on selection. Four scrumhalves have been named with Nicolás Vergallo to be joined by Agustín Figuerola of Brive and Argentina´two promising young scrumhalves from Los Pampas XV, Tomás Cubelli and Martín Landajo. Lucas González Amorosino and Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga are the specilist fullbacks, with Rodríguez Gurruchaga wuite likely to play in the centres. He is one of two players who appears set to be converted into a centre to join Marcelo Bosch as the squads players for the 13 shirt. The two others being Horacio Agulla and Rafael Carballo. The three remaining squad members are speicialist wingers - Martín Bustos Moyano, Juan Imhoff and Gonzalo Camacho. All have come off superb seasons in Europe with no clear indication of who will start. Bustos Moyano is Argentina´ best goalkicker.
The team, featuring 15 backs and 18 forwards, will travel to the United States of America on July 1 to train for two weeks at the state of the art facilities in Pensacola, Florida. Thirty of the players will go on July 1 with Patricio Albacete and Juan Fernández Lobbe leaving seven days latter as they are still on vacations due to their participation in the Top 14 Semi Finals in France. Similarly, Rodrigo Roncero will join the greater squad several days latter. Upon returning, Los Pumas will train in Buenos Aires at the San Isidro Club. where the team will prepare not only for The Rugby Championship but also two warmup matches against Stade Français at yet to be confirmed locations. The matches will take place on August 4 and 10.




1 Horacio Agulla Bath England
2 Patricio Albacete Stade Toulousian France
3 Marcos Ayerza Leicester Tigers England
4 Marcelo Bosch Biarritz France
5 Martín Bustos Moyano Montpellier France
6 Maximilano Bustos Montpellier France
7 Gonzalo Camacho Exeter Chiefs England
8 Rafael Carballo Bordeaux Begles France
9 Manuel Carizza Biarritz France
10 Agustín Creevy Montepellier France
11 Tomas Cubelli Los Pampas XV Argentina
12 Tomas De La Vega Los Pampas XV Argentina
13 Julio Farías Cabello Los Pampas XV Argentina
14 Juan Fernández Lobbe Toulon France
15 Santiago Fernández Montpellier France
16 Juan Figallo Montpellier France
17 Agustín Figuerola Brive France
18 Alvaro Galindo Racing Métro France
19 Lucas González Amorosino Montpellier France
20 Eusebio Guiñazú Biarritz France
21 Juan Martín Hernández Racing Métro France
22 Juan Imhoff Racing Métro France
23 Martín Landajo Los Pampas XV Argentina
24 Juan Leguizamón Lyon France
25 Tomás Leonardi Los Pampas XV Argentina
26 Juan Pablo Orlandi Racing Métro France
27 Bruno Postiglioni Los Pampas XV Argentina
28 Martin Rodríguez Stade Français France
29 Rodrigo Roncero Unattached
30 Nicolás Sánchez Bordeaux Begles France
31 Leonardo Senatore Los Pampas XV Argentina
32 Tomás Vallejos Harlequins England
33 Nicolás Vergallo Stade Toulousian France

edit: The list didn't transfer very well from the website to the forum. Here's the list of players by position:

Hookers: Creevy, Posiglioni, Guiñazú
Props: Ayerza, Bustos, Figallo, Orlandi, Roncero
Locks: Albacete, Carizza, Vallejos, Farías Cabello
Backrowers: De la Vega, Fernández Lobbe, Galindo, Leguizamón, Leonardi, Senatore
Scrum-halves: Cubelli, Figuerola, Landajo, Vergallo
Inside backs/midfielders: Bosch, Fernández, Sánchez
Outside backs: Carballo, Agulla, Bustos Moyano, Camacho, González Amorosino, Imhoff
Utility backs: Hernández, Rodríguez Gurruchaga

All the credit to the excellent blog http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.fr/

 

[sudrugby]

Nice video to watch to see the motivation of the Pumas

 

[kronic]

Bravo. See ARU, no oiled up players

 

[Jets]

I love it. What a great mix of generations of rugby players. The ARU could learn a lot from this.

 

[kronic]

Too right, it's all about passion. Sad to say, we barely have any.

 

[Blue]

Without a doubt, Argentina's inclusion in the RC is just about the most exciting thing to happen in rugby since I can remember. These boys are going to combust in when singing the anthem for the first test.

Man, I'd love to go the Buenos Aires to watch a test match. I reckon it will be a hell of an experience.

Yes and I'll take the five day old stubble on a crusty old prop over an oiled up poster boy every day.

 

[en_force_er]

Its awesome to see Argentina becoming a proper test nation that actually gets a fully strength team together on a regular basis.

 

[kronic]

An old article, but I found this interesting: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/co.../Argentine-rugby-inspired-by-Che-Guevara.html

I'm not a Marxist also.

 

[Manuel]

Today Argentina will be playing Stade Français Paris in Buenos Aires. They will have a 13-man bench, so basically every player will see action. Star backrower Juan Manuel Leguizamón is injured, so, alongside captain Juan Fernández Lobbe, the looseforward trio will be completed by 33-year-old Julio Farías (10 caps, his only international try against the All Blacks) and 25-year-old Tomás Leonardi (7 caps).

In the backs, "El Mago" Juan Martín Hernández will play his first test match since June 2009. The starting team will be:

Felipe Contepomi will be playing for Stade Français, against the side he captained until a few months ago, while Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga may play against his current club, Rodrigo Roncero against the club he played for since 2004 until his retirement two months ago and Juan Martín Hernández against the club that saw him shine for five years.

The run-on Pumas side will be:

1. Rodrigo Roncero
2. Agustín Creevy
3. Juan Figallo
4. Manuel Carizza
5. Patricio Albacete
6. Julio Farías Cabello
7. Tomás Leonardi
8. Juan Fernández Lobbe
9. Nicolás Vergallo
10. Juan Martín Hernández
11. Horacio Agulla
12. Santiago Fernández
13. Marcelo Bosch
14. Gonzalo Camacho
15. Lucas González Amorosino

Reserves: Eusebio Guiñazú, Marcos Ayerza, Juan Pablo Orlandi, Álvaro Galindo, Agustín Figuerola, Nicolás Sánchez, Juan Imhoff, Leonardo Senatore, Tomás Vallejos, Tomás De la Vega, Martín Rodríguez, Rafael Carballo and Martín Bustos Moyano.




Coach Santiago Phelan seems to have chosen what he believes to be their best side. I'd say about half that bench has an option to start against South Africa on August 18th, the rest being there mainly as injury cover or to fight for a spot on the bench.

Kick-off time is 16:40 this Saturday, Buenos Aires time (this post is posted at 6:13 AM on Saturday, do the maths yourselves)

 

[Manuel]

Stade Français won 25-21. Argentina were leading until they made a lot of changes in the second half. I didn't watch the game, but from the Argentine press I gather they didn't play well at all. Highlights here:
http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/scrum/

 

[kronic]

Not looking good for 2 weeks time then. The banana peel they needed?

 

[en_force_er]

This Argie team both beat and got thumped by a decent France team a month or so back, I'd go more off that result than this.

 

[daz]

Puma's play SF again this Friday. It might be a "friendly" series but a win will be needed to lift the Argies confidence going into the RC.

Kind of off-topic, but if SF whack the Puma's twice in their backyard, what does that tell us about SF's chance in the Top14?

 

[SuperGrover]

If Juan Manuel Leguizamón remains injured I hope they find space in the backrow for Tomas de la Vega.

Although the youngest player in Argentina's Rugby Championship squad, he was one of Los Pumas' best in the recent series against France - in the first test in Cordoba he outplayed Ouedraogo.

Argentina´ recent home tests vs Italy and France served as a chance for fringe players to show their worth with permanent places in the Argentine international team on the line.

One player to stand up and really impress was 21 year old backrower, Tomás De La Vega. Argentina fielded no European based players in the backrow in the three tests to enable players based in the Northern Hemisphere sufficient time to recover as well as trying to create depth in the position.

The experiment was an overall success with the South Americans doing well in the first two tests. De La Vega was on the bench vs Italy and started the test vs France in Córdoba in the 7 shirt going head-to-head with Fulgence Ouedraogo. He produced a career changing performance in Córdoba which is certain to now only have earned him a place in Argentina´ squad for The Rugby Championship but also a place in the starting lineup.

In taking on Ouedraogo, De La Vega did something rarely seen in a Pumas shirt - Argentina had a genuine openside flanker. One of Argentina´s shortcomings has been the teams method of playing its backrowers in that it Argentina has not been able to find a suitable fetching backrower. De La Vega demonstrated vs France that he is a fetcher in competing well at the breakdown. He also stood out for his tackling and acted well as a ball carrier. De La Vega was the standout player as he did what the best players in his position do - be highly visible, constantly involved in play.

His mobility is something Argentina have been lacking and the skills look set to give Santiago Phelan a backrow with speed and constrasting skills to be more competitive and move away from the Pumas stereotypical lpay of slowing down the ball.

The combination looks set to consist of 8 Juan Fernández Lobbe, 7 Juan Leguizamón, 6 Tomás De La Vega. With Alvaro Galindo or Leonardo Senatore providing cover from the bench.

De La Vega is a player that has come through the Argentine system. He is a former under 19 and under 20 player, having played in the 2009 and 2010 IRB Junior World Championships. He was quickly noticed as a player of significant talent as Santiago Phelan saw that he was a part of the Los Jaguares side that played in the 2010 Americas Rugby Championship in Córdoba. In that tournament De La Vega played for what is the Argentina A side against the A sides from the USA and Tonga.

He was then named in the Los Pampas XV squad for the 2011 Vodacom Cup in South Africa. De La Vega was just 20 years old, significantly younger than the other backrowers in the squad and he went on to play in five matches in the Vodacom Cup. Upon returning to Argentina as a champion, De La Vega made his test debut playing for Argentina in the country´ wins over Chile and Uruguay in May 2011. The following month he was selected for Los Jaguares and playing in the 2011 IRB Nations Cup in South Africa, taking on Georgia, Portugal and Romania.

The IRB Nations Cup tournament underlined his credentials but he was too young and lacked experience to be considered for Rugby World Cup 2011. He continued to train under the PladAR system in Argentina and after being named again in the Los Pampas XV squad, De La Vega was one of ten Argentine based players awarded with a professional contract with the UAR.

http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023....7/rugby-championship-players-to-watch_10.html

 

[SuperGrover]

Also found a match report for those interested.

More questions than answers as Argentina lose at Vélez Sarsfeld

Despite being the much better team, Argentina were defeated 25-21 today in Buenos Aires. The Santiago Phelan coached side was a mix of players certain to start against South Africa in two weeks time and some who can be classified as possibles. The mix failed to work as some simple errors from the South Americans handed the Top 14 club a victory. Phelan´ rotation of players in the match saw a total of thirteen substitutions and he may well regret the second half changes, especially in the final twenty minutes.

Argentina had the game in the bag midway through the second half and Phelan changed many players. It proved fatal as the replacements failed to gel together and Stade Français was able to score the match winner with its only try of the match. Los Pumas played good rugby in general and different rugby to that of 2011. Juan Martín Hernández returned for the first time in three years to slot in nicely at pivot and created opportunities for the backs. With him at flyhalf Argentina looked much more dynamic. He contributed to the first try which was scored by Horacio Agulla. The former Leicester Tigers winger ran over former French international fullback Jerome Porical for the only try of the first half. It was a moment of genius after Hernández had gone through a half gap and brilliantly offloaded to Imhoff with a backhanded pass while he was being tackled. Agulla then bumped off one defender and fended another to score the try. It gave Argentina a 16-12 lead at the interval.

In the second half Argentina started well again and took a 21-12 lead after Juan Imhoff scored a try. The try came from a lineout won by Juan Fernández Lobbe. It went through some hands before Hernández took his time to put Agulla into a gap and he attracted defenders before offloading to Imhoff who completed the try beside the corner flag. Stade Français hit back to make it 21-19 in favor of Argentina with thirteen minutes remaining. Hooker Laurent Sempere was the try scorer. He went over from a Stade Français lineout on the Pumas 5 metre line. It was a push over try that was well executed but Argentina were unlucky to have two players lose their footing during the lineout which created a hole. Argentina had suffered with Eusebio Guiñazú replacing Agustín Creevy in the 44th minute. Creevy´ substitution was injury forced and Argentina will need him to fully recover in time for The Rugby Championship. Stade Français went ahead in the 74th minute with a penalty goal and then landed anothern in the 78th minute to hold a six point lead. Argentina had a late chance to win but a knock-on ended the match.

It could have turned out differently altogether however as Agulla had appeared to have scored a try in the 20th minute. The future Bath winger had touched down to the right of the posts after finishing off a well worked move that saw Lucas González Amorosino do a loop around and run down the sideline before passing to Gonzalo Camacho who attracted two defenders before passing to Agulla for the try. González Amorosino was ruled to have put a foot on the touchline which meant the try was not awarded.

Amongst the key points in terms of selection to come out of the match are the selection of players at scrumhalf, centre, wing and in the backrow. Nicolás Vergallo´ 68 minutes at scrumhalf were not at the level required and he does not appear to be the player to combine with Hernández in The Rugby Championship. His replacement, Agustín Figuerola, played with Nicolás Sánchez and similarly was not able to play the kind of rugby that the coaches are seemingly searching for. It would appear that the starting scrumhalf to face South Africa is either Martín Landajo or Tomás Cubelli. Both will be certain to feature in next weeks match in Santa Fé.

Juan Imhoff and Horacio Agulla were Argentina´ best players at the only thing stopping then being the two wingers will now be the possibility of Agulla playing at outside centre. Replacement winger, Martín Bustos Moyano looks as being a must for the match day 22 because of his goalkicking. Hernández has not been a reliabel enough option for his country. Bustos Moyano should start in Santa Fé and weat the number 22 shirt against South Africa. It would mean Gonzalo Camacho is out of the team. Agulla got game time today at outside centre and could well start there in Santa Fé with Imhoff, Bustos Moyano and González Amorosino making up the back three.

Argentina were clearing lacking Juan Leguizamón today in the backrow. Without him Juan Fernández Lobbe was joined by Julio Farías Cabello and Tomás Leonardí in the backrow. Neither player, however, played well enough to start against the Springboks. Leguizamón ought to return to play in the 7 shirt and 21 year old Tomás De La Vega ought to be the 6. His game style as a fetcher is something Argentina have long been without and it was very much absent today.

The other topic for change may well be the Pumas shirt supplied for Nike. Since replaceing Adidas Nike has supplied two different shirts. Today´ match was one made up mainly entirely of sky blue but there were not stripes. People on social networks have been displaying anger to it asking the UAR on both facebook and twitter to change the shirt.

http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.com.au/

 

[sudrugby]

Santiago Phelan has named a group of 26 players for the two first games against the Springboks
You can find the list here -> http://www.sudrugby.com/trc-argentine/