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Six uncapped players have been named on the Argentina roster for the June Internationals. Los Pumas will play host test matches against Wales and Scotland next month, doing so in San Juan, Santa Fé, and Resistencia.
All 30 players selected by Daniel Hourcade play in Argentina. Not all, however, have played Super Rugby in 2018. Included is the injured Jaguares captain Pablo Matera. There are also places for scrum-half Tomás Cubelli, and outside center Matías Moroni despite neither having been considered for a Jaguares’ match this season.
Both Cubelli and Moroni played for the Argentina XV vs the Uruguay XV recently. Also included was Manuel Montero. Unlike Cubelli and Moroni the Pantera has not been named in the roster.
Cubelli is one of three scrum-halves. He joins incumbent Martín Landajo and Gonzalo Bertranou. In Super Rugby Bertranou has held down the starting position. The roster also contains Sebastián Cancelliere a natural scrum-half who has been used on the wing for Hindú and now also for Los Jaguares.
Moroni joins Matías Orlando and Juan Cruz Mallía as the outside center options. Injury to Joaquín Tuculet means Emiliano Boffelli will likely be the fullback despite him being a viable option at outside center. Cruz Mallía is another possibility for fullback as are Jaguares wingers Ramiro Moyano and Bautista Delguy.
Both Cruz Mallía and Delguy are uncapped. The same is true of Bautista Ezcurra who makes the roster following on from notable game time in Super Rugby this year at inside center.
In the forwards there are places for three uncapped props. Out due to injury is Enrique Pieretto while regular Jaguares’ replacement prop Juan Pablo Zeiss also misses out. Hourcade has named Javier Díaz, Nicolás Leiva and Santiago Medrano. The trio have all played for Los Jaguares behind the firm starters of Santiago García Botta and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Argentina’s home series is to be the first since the retirement of Juan Martín Hernández. Nicolás Sánchez is to have Santiago González Iglesias as his understudy at fly half while Ezcurra and Jerónimo de la Fuente are the inside centers.
Not considered for the June Internationals are European-Based players. Having initially been cleared to select all players by there UAR, Daniel Hourcade has instead reverted to a home-based only side.
This is the case despite the availability of many top names who have completed their seasons in Europe. The season is over for the likes of Marcelo Bosch, Santiago Cordero, Patricio Fernández, Juan Figallo, Mariano Galarza, Juan Imhoff, Francisco Gomez Kodela, Ramiro Herrera, and Juan Pablo Socino.
Instead Hourcade will look to win three home matches without them all and others. He will again have Agustín Creevy as his captain. The difference from prior years is that Creevy no longer leads Los Jaguares, a move from Mario Ledesma to benefit all parties.
ARGENTINA
Forwards: Matías Alemanno, Agustín Creevy, Javier Díaz, Santiago García Botta, Marcos Kremer, Tomás Lavanini, Nicolás Leiva, Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Tomás Lezana, Pablo Matera, Santiago Medrano, Julián Montoya, Javier Ortega Desio, Guido Petti, Leonardo Senatore, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Backs: Gonzalo Bertranou, Emiliano Boffelli, Sebastián Cancelliere, Tomás Cubelli, Jerónimo de la Fuente, Bautista Delguy, Bautista Ezcurra, Santiago González Iglesias, Martín Landajo, Juan Cruz Mallía, Matías Moroni, Ramiro Moyano, Matías Orlando, Nicolás Sánchez
