The Missing Pumas

Daniel Hourcade’s 33-man roster for the Rugby Championship confirmed what the Head Coach had already stated. Argentina is no longer selecting those contracted to foreign clubs. As such nine members of the Rugby World Cup roster are missing.

The Retired
Not involved due to retirement are Horacio Agulla and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe. Both players are, nonetheless, still active. Agulla has finished his time at Bath and has signed for Castres. This will see him returning to play in the Top 14 after six years in the Aviva Premiership.

Now aged 31, Agulla is some three years younger than Fernández Lobbe. Both players started matches at Rugby World Cups 2007, 2011 and 2015. They feel that their time in Los Pumas has come to an end.

The Injured
Three Jaguares players are missing from the roster due to injury. They are Emiliano Boffelli, Juan Cruz Guillemáin and Rodrigo Báez. There are no guarantees that they would have been selected had they have been fit.

Not withstanding the uncapped Boffelli had earned his way into the test side. Sources confirmed to Americas Rugby News that Boffelli would have started at least once on the wing in the June Internationals.

Cruz Guillemáin is listed as Los Jaguares fourth choice second-rower. He was used as such in the Super Rugby. When he was lost Rául Pérez had to find alternatives. This firstly saw Javier Ortega Desio playing out of position and secondly Ignacio Larrague and Marcos Kremer both joining the team.

In the early season matches Báez was a regular in the side. He had made a successful comeback from injury which ruled him out of Pumas duty in 2015. He captained the Argentina XV against the USA earlier this year and was on track to play in the June Internationals. Instead he is again missing through injury.

Also unavailable is tighthead prop Matías Díaz. Having played Super Rugby for the Highlanders Díaz had been underlined as having a tremendous future. Tragically for all his career is on hold due. Health problems saw Juan Pablo Orlandi replace him in the squad for Rugby World Cup 2015.

Díaz is yet to make a full recovery. Also inactive is Lucas Ponce. The second-rower had featured on Argentina’s November 2014 tour of Europe, playing against Scotland, Italy and France as a replacement. Without the 25-year-old even younger players have been blooded.

The Missing
Ponce, Cruz Guillemáin and Guido Petti all made their Pumas debuts in November 2014. They did so with Patricio Albacete excluded. The veteran was still on top of his game at Toulouse but had his Pumas career ended after an off-field dispute with Hourcade.

Hourcade’s selections have seen many others play their final tests. Players used by Santiago Phelan have been cut by Hourcade. Examples include Martín Bustos Moyano, Manuel Carizza, Santiago Fernández, Francisco Gomez Kodela, Eusebio Guiñazú, Benjamín Macome, Bruno Postiglioni and Benjamin Urdapilleta. They are all under contracts in Europe but were not involved in Rugby World Cup 2015.

The current Rugby Championship roster sees the list of missing players rise. Hourcade has left out some genuine world class athletes, doing so in a variety of positions. This will potentially be felt strongest upfront as Marcos Ayerza and Juan Figallo are both missing. No Gomez Kodela or Orlandi only adds to the propping concerns.

Centers Juan Pablo Socino and Marcelo Bosch also remain in England. The non-selection of the latter has garnered extensive questioning from neutrals. The same is true of Fernández Lobbe, though his non-involvement is his personal choice.

Juan Imhoff is the one player many teams fear greatly. It is to be a great loss to Los Pumas and the Rugby Championship. Though, to be fair, both Santiago Cordero and Manuel Montero are both excellent players and their styles compliment one another.

Hourcade has his top three second-row options. Prior to Rugby World Cup 2015 he defended his choices saying the four he took were Argentina’s best. They were Matías Alemanno, Mariano Galarza, Tomás Lavanini and Guido Petti. Three remain with 18-year-old Marcos Kremer replacing Galarza.

Contracted to Gloucester is the reason for Galarza’s non-selection. He joins Manuel Carizza in the list of missing players. Carizza played in the 2015 Rugby Championship but went no further. He was officially the fifth choice for the World Cup. On form he is undeniably higher up than this.

Shown in the table below is a starting lineup based on players not selected for the Rugby Championship.

#	Player	Club	Union
1	Marcos Ayerza	Leicester Tigers	RFU
2	Martín García Veiga	Vannes	FFR
3	Juan Figallo	Saracens	RFU
4	Manuel Carizza	Racing 92	FFR
5	Mariano Galarza	Gloucester	RFU
6	Martín Chiappesoni	Dax	FFR
7	Juan Fernández Lobbe	Toulon	FFR
8	Leandro Pérez Galeone	Bourgoin	FFR
9	Agustín Figuerola	Lyon	FFR
10	Patricio Fernández	Clermont	FFR
11	Juan Imhoff	Racing 92	FFR
12	Santiago Fernández	Pau	FFR
13	Marcelo Bosch	Saracens	RFU
14	Horacio Agulla	Castres	FFR
15	Martín Bustos Moyano	Bayonne	FFR