Gonzalo Quesada has included several new players in his first Jaguares training squad ahead of the 2019 Super Rugby season. Ten players were not part of the training group last year while Rodrigo Bruni is yet to make his Jaguares debut despite earning three test caps for the Pumas in November.
Seven players have been called up from the Pumitas squad that competed at the World Rugby u20 Championship in June. Props Mayco Vivas and Lucio Sordoni, second row Lucas Paulos, flanker Santiago Grondona, midfielder Santiago Chocobares, and outside backs Ignacio Mendy and Santiago Carreras are included. Mendy is the youngest at only 18 with Chocobares still four months shy of his 20th birthday.
Hooker Gaspar Baldunciel, second row Franco Molina, No8 Rodrigo Bruni, and flyhalf Domingo Miotti all graduate from the Argentina XV squad. Bruni is a direct replacement for Pumas veteran Leonardo Senatore, the most notable absentee in the group.
The selection of Miotti is an important one. With the retirement of Juan Martín Hernández and the departure of Nicolás Sánchez to Stade Français, there are three flyhalf options but only four Super Rugby starts at No10 between them with Joaquín Díaz Bonilla and Santiago González Iglesias starting twice each at the pivot position. Miotti has excelled at each level thus far and will now have the chance to test himself against some of the world’s best players.
Fringe players left out of the group include props Felipe Arregui, Franco Brarda, and Nicolás Leiva, back rowers Benjamín Macome and Santiago Montagner, scrumhalf Felipe Ezcurra, and center Santiago Álvarez. Ezcurra was included in the Argentina XV squad to prepare for the Americas Rugby Championship while Álvarez has rejoined the Pumas Sevens program.
Other notable inclusions see the returns of tighthead prop Enrique Pieretto and fullback Joaquín Tuculet from long-term knee injuries. Both missed the entirety of the 2018 test season. Tomás Cubelli is also set to make his Jaguares debut after missing the 2018 campaign with injury and playing the two previous seasons with the Brumbies.
Preseason training will begin on Thursday, January 3.
NAME | POS | AGE | SR | INT |
Díaz, Javier | LH | 23 | 3 | 3 |
García Botta, Santiago | LH | 26 | 33 | 33 |
Tetaz Chaparro, Nahuel | LH/TH | 29 | 50 | 50 |
Vivas, Mayco | LH | 20 | – | – |
Baldunciel, Gaspar | HO | 22 | – | – |
Creevy, Agustín | HO | 33 | 42 | 83 |
Fortuny, Diego | HO | 27 | 1 | 1 |
Montoya, Julián | HO | 25 | 38 | 51 |
Medrano, Santiago | TH | 22 | 7 | 11 |
Pieretto, Enrique | TH | 24 | 16 | 23 |
Sordoni, Lucio | TH | 20 | – | 2 |
Zeiss, Juan Pablo | TH/LH | 29 | 10 | 6 |
Alemanno, Matías | LO | 27 | 38 | 53 |
Lavanini, Tomás | LO | 25 | 31 | 50 |
Molina, Franco | LO | 21 | – | – |
Paulos, Lucas | LO | 20 | – | – |
Petti, Guido | LO | 24 | 44 | 45 |
Grondona, Santiago | FL | 20 | – | – |
Kremer, Marcos | FL | 21 | 28 | 21 |
Lezana, Tomás | FL | 24 | 27 | 30 |
Matera, Pablo | FL | 25 | 35 | 58 |
Bruni, Rodrigo | N8 | 25 | – | 3 |
Leguizamón, Juan Manuel | N8 | 35 | 23 | 85 |
Ortega Desio, Javier | N8 | 28 | 27 | 51 |
Bertranou, Gonzalo | SH | 24 | 39 | 19 |
Cubelli, Tomás | SH | 29 | 18 | 69 |
Landajo, Martín | SH | 30 | 34 | 84 |
Díaz Bonilla, Joaquín | FH | 29 | 9 | 1 |
González Iglesias, Santiago | FH/CE | 30 | 23 | 43 |
Miotti, Domingo | FH | 22 | – | – |
Chocobares, Santiago | CE | 19 | – | – |
de la Fuente, Jerónimo | CE | 27 | 34 | 46 |
Ezcurra, Bautista | CE | 23 | 22 | 5 |
Mendy, Ignacio | CE/FB | 18 | – | – |
Moroni, Matías | CE | 27 | 22 | 40 |
Orlando, Matías | CE | 27 | 41 | 39 |
Boffelli, Emiliano | WI/FB | 23 | 34 | 23 |
Cancelliere, Sebastián | WI | 22 | 9 | 6 |
Delguy, Bautista | WI | 21 | 15 | 11 |
Moyano, Ramiro | WI | 28 | 26 | 30 |
Carreras, Santiago | FB | 20 | – | – |
Mallía, Juan Cruz | FB | 22 | 3 | 4 |
Tuculet, Joaquín | FB | 29 | 36 | 51 |