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Aside from the loss to injury of Manuel Montero and Juan Figallo Argentina’s preparation for the Rugby Championship opener against New Zealand this Friday has been running smoothly. Head Coach Daniel Hourcade has made adjustments to not allow their non-availability to dictate selections.
Such was the training earlier today in Christchurch that el Huevo appears set to name a much changed lineup to that of the corresponding test match in Napier in 2014. The tradition of Hourcade showing his hand at Monday’s training would seem to be continuing and of those training together as the run-on team a number of players will be debuting in the Rugby Championship.
Before 10am Monday morning local time the squad viewed video analysis before Physical Trainer Gonzalo Santos performed drills focusing on the clearing out of rucks, body position in contact situations and post tackle movement.
From there two teams were designated and they trained general play, opposition movement and contact. This was followed by separate exercises for the forwards and backs. The forwards focused on the set-piece while the backs trained tight-space drills.
The physical training was done with players wearing bibs to separate those Hourcade is looking to start from the reserves and additional squad members. Tomás Cubelli trained at scrumhalf with Nicolás Sánchez outside him and Jerónimo De La Fuente and Marcelo Bosch forming the mid-field combination.
De La Fuente was a replacement in the 2014 Rugby Championship but played no part in the matches against New Zealand. He is set to be one of two backs starting for the first time with the other being Santiago Cordero who formed a back-three with Horacio Agulla and Joaquín Tuculet. Missing was Lucas González Amorosino who is carrying a minor injury.
The same front-row of Marcos Ayerza, Agustín Creevy and Ramiro Herrera from the 2014 fixtures trained together but did so with a new-look second-row in the form of Guido Petti Pagadízabal and Manuel Carizza. Neither player featured in the Rugby Championship with Petti debuting last November against Italy as a 19 year old. Also on debut was 21 year old Facundo Isa who trained at number 8.
Veteran back-rowers Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and Juan Manuel Leguizamón completed the starting lineup at training with Benjamín Macome acting as the back-up option. Also providing cover were Martín Landajo, Juan Pablo Socino and Juan Imhoff. Should Socino receive game time he would be earning his first cap.
With the players being given Monday off the formation which trained together on Monday would appear to be on course to start the test at AMI Stadium. Training will resume on Wednesday with Hourcade confirming his lineup.
Pumas lineup as in Training
1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 4 Guido Petti Pagadízabal, 5 Manuel Carizza, 6 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Horacio Agulla, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Joaquín Tuculet.
