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Australia is to Host Los Pumas in Canberra this year. The ARU is set to make an official announcement within hours that the Wallabies will play in the nation’s capital for the first time since 2010.
The 2017 Rugby Championship match will be at GIO Stadium, the home venue of the Brumbies in Super Rugby. The stadium is well known to Pumas scrum-half Tomás Cubelli. The Belgrano Athletic No 9 joined the Brumbies in 2016 and will play his second season for the franchise this year.
GIO Stadium has never hosted a Rugby Championship match. It never hosted a Tri Nations fixture and since Argentina’s inclusion to establish the Rugby Championship it has remained unused.
Formerly known simply as Canberra Stadium the venue has experience in hosting international rugby. It first hosted test match rugby in 1998 with Australia downing Tonga 74-0. Fiji also defeated Samoa at the ground by 26-18 that same year. In 2000 Argentina played, losing 32-25. That was their only ever appearance in Canberra.
The stadium was used to host four matches in Rugby World Cup 2003. One of these was Canada’s pool match against Italy. The Italians won a thriller 19-14. Since then the Wallabies have played two tests, taking on Italy in 2009 and Fiji in 2010.
