Argentina’s 2017 Internationals

The final details are yet to be made public though Americas Rugby News can confirm Argentina’s 2017 Internationals. The South Americans will play three home matches in June, three way in November and six in the Rugby Championship.

The twelve matches are to see Argentina playing against seven countries. The most common fixture will be Argentina vs England. The Rugby World Cup 2019 pool opponents will play each other on three occasions in 2017.

June Internationals
The first assignment of the year will be against England. In a preview of Japan 2019 the teams will meet on June 10 and 13. The matches will be played in San Juan and Santa Fé, both of which are new territory for England.

As in 2016 the remaining June International fixture will be a one-off match. Last year Los Pumas faced France twice and Italy once. In 2017 it will again be against a European visitor with Georgia set to play in Jujuy. The June 24 fixture will be the second time that the Lelos have played a test match in Argentina.

Rugby Championship
As in prior Rugby Championships Argentina will open on the road against South Africa. The reserve fixture will take place the following weekend. Los Pumas will then play away to New Zealand and Australia. The competition will then close with home matches against the same sides.

The experiment of playing a match in London last year worked but it will not be repeated in 2017. Instead all three home matches will take place in Argentina. The exact venues are presently being finalized. So far the UAR has only publicly revealed that the Wallabies will play in Mendoza.

The two remaining fixtures are soon to be confirmed as taking place in Salta and Buenos Aires. The Springboks are to return to where the fell in 2016 while the national capital will have an opportunity for Los Pumas to try to make history.

Argentina’s away matches in Oceania will see appearances in different places. For the first time in the Rugby Championship Argentina will play in Port Elizabeth, New Plymouth and Canberra. Previous appearances have occurred in two of the three. In 2003 Argentina agonizingly lost 26-25 to South Africa in Port Elizabeth. In 2000 Australia defeated Argentina 32-25 in Canberra.

November Internationals
International competition will come to a close in November. A change from 2016 sees the return to three test matches rather than four. The one repeat fixture will see Argentina returning to play at Twickenham. The November 11 fixture will open the end-of-year tour for Los Pumas.

One week later Argentina will play in Italy. The FIR is yet to reveal the venue for the fixture. Sources, though, indicate that it will be played at the Stade Artemis Franchi in Florence. Of the nine prior fixtures between the sides in Italy none have been played in Florence. The most recent fixture in the country was in November 2014 in Genoa.

2017 will come to a close in Dublin. The Rugby World Cup rivals will meet for the first time since 2015. On that occasion Argentina dumped Ireland out of the World Cup at the Quarter Finals stage. Since then Ireland has improved. So much so that the Irish defeated New Zealand last November. They are also the only country to have beaten England since Rugby World Cup 2015.

DATE	FIXTURE	LOCATION
June 10	Argentina vs England	San Juan
June 17	Argentina vs England	Santa Fé
June 24	Argentina vs Georgia	Jujuy
August 19	South Africa vs Argentina	Port Elizabeth
August 26	Argentina vs South Africa	Salta
September 09	New Zealand vs Argentina	New Plymouth
September 16	Australia vs Argentina	Canberra
September 30	Argentina vs New Zealand	Buenos Aires
October 07	Argentina vs Australia	Mendoza
November 11	England vs Argentina	London
November 18	Italy vs Argentina	Florence
November 25	Ireland vs Argentina	Dublin