World Cup Watch – Argentina – May 28 2019

The World Cup Watch series identifies the players most likely to represent their respective countries at the RWC. The previous edition of World Cup Watch – Argentina was put together following Mario Ledesma’s explanations over team selection. It can be seen by clicking here.

Two months have past since the revelations and since the Head Coach met with players in Europe. In addition this past Saturday saw Ledesma naming his preliminary roster for the RWC itself. It contained six players based in Europe for the 2018-2019 season, of them Santiago Socino has signed for Jaguares.

The May 28 edition of World Cup watch takes into account the names Ledesma has included from Europe in addition to the overall standard and form in 2019 of those playing Super Rugby for Los Jaguares and in international competition for the Argentina XV.

It should be noted that the official selection policy is for players passing criteria, who are deemed to genuinely be better than Jaguares’ players, to be included in the RWC.

ARGENTINA

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NAME

CLUB

POS

CAPS

 

FIRST CHOICE

1	Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro	Jaguares	LH	50
2	Agustín Creevy	Jaguares	HK	83
3	Juan Figallo	Saracens (UK)	TH	26
4	Guido Petti	Jaguares	LO	45
5	Tomás Lavanini	Leicester (UK)	LO	50
6	Pablo Matera	Stade Français (FR)	FL	58
7	Marcos Kremer	Jaguares	FL	21
8	Facundo Isa	Toulon (FR)	N8	25
9	Tomás Cubelli	Jaguares	SH	70
10	Nicolás Sánchez	Stade Français (FR)	FH	74
11	Ramiro Moyano	Jaguares	WI	30
12	Jerónimo de la Fuente	Jaguares	CE	44
13	Matías Orlando	Jaguares	CE	39
14	Bautista Delguy	Jaguares	WI / FB	11
15	Emiliano Boffelli	Jaguares	FB / WI	23

The above first choice line-up has four changes from that listed in March. All of them come in the backs with three of them being due to the European-Based players named in the preliminary roster by Ledesma.

Two of them come on the wings as Juan Imhoff, and Santiago Cordero are not named in the 36-man preliminary roster for the RWC. In their places are the same men who held down the starting positions under Ledesma in 2018 – Ramiro Moyano, and Bautista Delguy.

Also missing from the preliminary roster was Marcelo Bosch. His omission was far less of a surprise based on his age and retirement from professional rugby. The spot could go to either Matías Moroni, or Matías Orlando and it is the latter is is slightly favored at present.

The final change to the starting formation is at scrum-half. The form of Tomás Cubelli for Los Jaguares simply cannot be ignored. With Gonzalo Bertranou out though injury it means he will almost certainly return to be the understudy to Cubelli.

 

REPLACEMENTS

16	Julián Montoya	Jaguares	HK	48
17	Mayco Vivas	Jaguares	LH	–
18	Ramiro Herrera	Stade Français (FR)	TH	39
19	Matías Alemanno	Jaguares	LO	53
20	Javier Ortega Desio	Jaguares	FL / N8	51
21	Gonzalo Bertranou	Jaguares	SH	19
22	Benjamín Urdapilleta	Castres (FR)	FH	10
23	Joaquín Tuculet	Jaguares	FB	51

There are four changes to the replacements. The first is at loose head where Mayco Vivas is the front-runner to join Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro in the RWC roster. He replaces Facundo Gigena who was not named in the preliminary squad despite his impressive season with Leicester.

The replacement second-row spot has gone to Matías Alemanno who takes over from Mariano Galarza. With the latter not being named in the 46-man roster Alemanno is, in theory well placed to be back-up to Guido Petti, and Tomás Lavanini. Yet this is very much to be monitored with Alemanno very much in doubt following surgery.

The reserve scrum-half is now Gonzalo Bertranou who swaps with Tomás Cubelli while the reserve outside back is Joaquín Tuculet due to Ramiro Moyano now in the starting line-up.

 

TRAVELING RESERVES

24	Santiago Socino	Jaguares	HK	–
25	Santiago Medrano	Jaguares	TH	11
26	Lucas Paulos	Jaguares	LO	–
27	Rodrigo Bruni	Jaguares	FL / N8	3
28	Tomás Lezana	Jaguares	FL	30
29	Domingo Miotti	Jaguares	FH	–
30	Matías Moroni	Jaguares	CE	40
31	Santiago Carreras	Jaguares	WI / FB	–

The eight traveling reserves include five changes. Those remaining from March are Santiago Medrano, Rodrigo Bruni, and Tomás Lezana. There is realistically no player to trouble any of them from making the RWC roster.

Changes come at hooker with the third choice player officially being Santiago Socino. He was named on the roster while Facundo Bosch was not despite the latter having played for Argentina vs South Africa in 2018.

With Alemanno elevated to the bench the fourth choice lock is Lucas Paulos. The Super Rugby rookie was one of just four players in the position named on the 46-man roster. This further increases the potential of Marcos Kremer being used, on occasion, in the position.

Of the backs there are three alterations. One sees the uncapped Domingo Miotti named ahead of Juan Cruz Mallía. Mitt’s Super Rugby form makes him extremely likely to go to the RWC. For now he remains behind the French-based duo of Nicolás Sánchez, and Benjamín Urdapilleta.

A surprise omission in March was Matías Moroni. The reason he missed out was the inclusion of Marcelo Bosch, and the five star options on the wings. This saw Moroni being a casualty but this is no longer a possibility.

In the back-three the leading option is now Santiago Carreras. Despite being a rookie in Super Rugby, and being uncapped he is a more favorable option than Manuel Montero, or Sebastián Cancelliere as, unlike them, he is both a wing and a fullback. Moreover with Moroni on the roster the ability to play fullback makes Carreras the clear choice.

 

NON-TRAVELING RESERVES

32	Facundo Bosch	La Rochelle (FR)	HO / FL	1
33	Juan Pablo Zeiss	Jaguares	LH	6
34	Lucio Sordoni	Jaguares	TH	2
35	Mariano Galarza	Bayonne (FR)	LO	26
36	Juan M Leguizamón	Jaguares	FL	85
37	Felipe Ezcurra	Jaguares	SH	2
38	Joaquín Díaz Bonilla	Jaguares	FH	1
39	Bautista Ezcurra	Jaguares	CE	5
40	Lucas Mensa	Argentina XV	CE	–
41	Sebastián Cancelliere	Jaguares	WI	6
42	Juan Cruz Mallía	Jaguares	CE / FB	4

The next inline missing from the projected 31-man roster per position are listed as the non-traveling reserves. The two not based in Argentina have been included due to there being no Argentine-based players listed in their respective positions in the preliminary 46-man squad.

 

A complete list of the Argentina’s senior player pool can be seen here.