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Following this evening’s home win over the French Barbarians Los Pumas Head Coach Daniel Hourcade confirmed a squad of 36 players to depart Buenos Aires tomorrow. They are to travel to Sydney, Australia to prepare for the Rugby Championship.
Hourcade explained how the process had been: “it has been a long time in which we have been working on this list and have been evaluating player by player. Those in Argentina we saw in the Pacific (Challenge), the CONSUR Cup and friendly matches in which we played. We evaluated everybody even in the practice matches, the competence is very similar and we know that there are many players have to be left out, and we try to be as impartial as we can. It is very ugly to be left out, it is the most difficult part, but it has to be done. We have analyzed the matches of those in Europe with their clubs and we have covered each one of them. The focal point has been the methodology which we used to define the squad”.
Unlike what was the case against the French Barbarians Hourcade was free to select any player for the Rugby Championship preparation in Sydney. There were therefore some notable omissions with none being more apparent than that of Manuel Carizza. The second-rower was starting Super Rugby for Semi Finalists the Stormers this season and won the 2014 Currie Cup with Western Province.
Hourcade, however, deems others to be more suited to his game plan. Picked are Matías Alemanno, Tomás Lavanini and Guido Petti Pagadizabal with back-rower Benjamín Macome offering cover if need be. Missing to injury is Mariano Galarza while Patricio Albacete has not been selected due to a public dispute with Hourcade in 2014.
Carizza and Albacete had been the starting second-row combination at Rugby World Cup 2015 and played behind a front-row of Rodrigo Roncero, Mario Ledesma and Juan Figallo. The former two had both retired less than a year later while Figallo suffered a severe injury in the 2013 Rugby Championship which saw his contract end at Montpellier.
With different laws governing the Aviva Premiership than the Top 14 Figallo moved to Saracens and worked his way into the team. Following a long-term recovery regime Figallo was a part of the team that won the 2015 final last month. His return gives balance to the front-row as he can play either side while the four others are specialists.
Marcos Ayerza leads the way at loosehead prop and is set to play in a third Rugby World Cup. 21 year old Lucas Noguera Paz has been selected as his declared deputy while Matías Díaz Ramiro Herrera and Fransciso Tetaz Chaparro are the tighthead props.
Captain Agustín Creevy is to be joined by two young hookers with Santiago Iglesias Valdez and Julián Montoya having been picked ahead of Matías Cortese. Also missing is Eusebio Guiñazú who had been the first choice hooker prior to Hourcade’s arrival.
In handing Creevy the captaincy Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe was given more time to focus on his game. Both he and Juan Manuel Leguizamón are set to return from the two previous World Cups while Leonardo Senatore played in 2011. The other back-rowers flying to Sydney, however, are newcomers with only Benjamín Macome having been around in 2011 at all.
The confidence Hourcade has in Facundo Isa, Tomás Lezana, Pablo Matera and Javier Ortega Desio is such that all have started against elite opposition. Three of them are, nonetheless, 21 or younger. They are playing for the same spots are the established players and Hourcade has made a name for himself as not a player to pick based on reputation.
The recent injury to Manuel Montero saw Hourcade denied one of his best finishers. He had been the starting left winger with Juan Imhoff playing right wing in 2014. This was the case after Gonzalo Camacho’s serious injury in 2013. The Leicester winger, though, has been included in the squad as have Imhoff, Horacio Agulla, Santiago Cordero and Lucas González Amorosino.
The inclusion of Cordero saw him leaving the Pumas Sevens team which is to compete for medals at the Pan American Games in Toronto next month. The speedster can also play fullback and, in fact, it is his natural position. Both he and González Amorosino join Joaquín Tuculet as the options for the position.
Agulla, meanwhile, joins Marcelo Bosch and Jerónimo De la Fuente as an outside centre contender. De la Fuente is one to have developed significantly over the past twelve months and follows the injury loss of Gonzalo Tiesi who was looking for selection in a third World Cup.
His club mate, Juan Pablo Socino remains uncapped but will travel to Sydney as one of three fly-halves that can play inside centre. The others being Juan Martín Hernández and Santiago González Iglesias. Nicolás Sánchez is thus the only player selected purely as a fly half. Scrumhalves Tomás Cubelli and Martín Landajo, meanwhile, have been joined by Felipe Ezcurra.
The squad will depart Argentina tomorrow, Saturday June 27 at 9:30am flying LA400 to Santiago de Chile, before transferring to Sydney, where they will arrive on Sunday. The team is to be based at the Pullman Hyde Park and will prepare for the Rugby Championship at St. Joseph College, Preparation will include a warm-up fixture on Friday July 9 against Randwick Rugby Club.
On Saturday July 11 a squad of 28 players will fly to Christchurch, New Zealand where, one week later, they will begin the Rugby Championship against the All Blacks.
Forwards
Matías Alemanno, (UAR), Marcos Ayerza (Leicester Tigers, England), Agustín Creevy (UAR), Matías Díaz (UAR), Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (Toulon, France), Juan Figallo (Saracens, England), Ramiro Herrera (UAR), Santiago Iglesias Valdez (UAR), Facundo Isa (UAR), Tomás Lavanini (Racing 92, France), Juan Manuel Leguizamón (Lyon, France), Tomás Lezana (UAR), Benjamín Macome (Bayonne, France), Pablo Matera (UAR), Julián Montoya (UAR), Lucas Noguera Paz (UAR), Javier Ortega Desio (UAR), Guido Petti Pagadizabal (UAR), Leonardo Senatore (Worcester Warriors, England), Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (UAR)
Backs
Horacio Agulla (Bath, England), Marcelo Bosch (Saracens, England), Gonzalo Camacho (Leicester Tigers, England), Santiago Cordero (UAR), Tomás Cubelli (UAR), Jerónimo De la Fuente (UAR), Felipe Ezcurra (Hindú), Lucas González Amorosino (Cardiff Blues, Wales), Santiago González Iglesias (UAR), Juan Martín Hernández (Unattached), Juan Imhoff (Racing 92, France), Martín Landajo (UAR), Matías Moroni (UAR), Nicolás Sánchez (UAR), Juan Pablo Socino (Newcastle Falcons, England), Joaquín Tuculet (UAR)
