How Pumas could line up for South American Championship

Confirmation of the 2020 version of the South American Championship is forthcoming. Argentina are set to join Brazil, Chile and, hosts, Uruguay in the Four-Nations tournament. It is to be played in Montevideo over fifteen days in September.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Super Rugby was suspended in March. Los Jaguares last Super Rugby match was on March 07. Since then players have departed, in an exodus, to foreign clubs. Those who are in Europe now, or will be in September, will not be considered for the South American Championship.

Departing centers Jerónimo de la Fuente, Matías Moroni, and Matías Orlando will join their new clubs in December. As such, the trio will all be available for the South American Championship. Other departing players will miss the tournament in Montevideo, but will be available for the Rugby Championship in New Zealand.

In identifying who will and will not play it is useful to call Mario Ledesma’s use of players in the RWC 2019 matches against Tonga and the USA. The head coach made nine changes from the game against England for the game against the Eagles.

The tournament in Uruguay will not only serve as urgent game time, it will actively give Jaguares’ players the opportunity to press for places in the match-day 23 for the Rugby Championship.

The 60 players can be broken down into two categories: (a) players based in Argentina and (b) players based abroad. It is those from (a) who will be considered for the South American Championship. The absence of Pablo Matera means that there will be a stand-in captain or captains for the competition. Tomás Cubelli and Julián Montoya are arguably the leading candidates.

The players are categorized accordingly below:

FORWARDS IN ARGENTINA
Javier Díaz (Jaguares), Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (Jaguares), Federico Wegrzyn (Ceibos), Mayco Vivas (Jaguares), Julián Montoya (Jaguares), Santiago Socino (Jaguares), Santiago Medrano (Jaguares), Joel Sclavi (Jaguares), Lucio Sordoni (Jaguares), Juan Pablo Zeiss (Ceibos), Ignacio Calas (Jaguares), Rodrigo Fernández Criado (Ceibos), Lucas Paulos (Jaguares), Rodrigo Bruni (Jaguares), Francisco Gorrissen (Jaguares), Santiago Grondona (Jaguares), Tomás Lezana (Jaguares), Santiago Montagner (Ceibos), Javier Ortega Desio (Jaguares), Joaquín Oviedo (Córdoba Athletic), Juan Bautista Pedemonte (Jaguares)

FORWARDS ABROAD
Ignacio Calles (Pau, FR), Facundo Gigena (Leicester Tigers, UK), Facundo Bosch (La Rochelle, FR), Agustín Creevy (London Irish, UK), Francisco Gómez Kodela (Lyon, FR), Ramiro Herrera (La Rochelle, FR), Enrique Pieretto (Glasgow Warriors, UK), Matías Alemanno (Gloucester, UK), Marcos Kremer (Stade Français, FR), Tomás Lavanini (Leicester Tigers, UK), Guido Petti (Bordeaux, FR), Facundo Isa (Toulon, FR), Pablo Matera (Stade Français, FR)

BACKS IN ARGENTINA
Gonzalo Bertranou (Jaguares), Tomás Cubelli (Jaguares), Felipe Ezcurra (Jaguares), Gonzalo García (Ceibos), Tomás Albornoz (Ceibos), Joaquín Díaz Bonilla (Jaguares), Domingo Miotti (Jaguares), Juan Pablo Castro (Ceibos), Santiago Chocobares (Jaguares), Jerónimo de la Fuente (Jaguares), Juan Cruz Mallía (Jaguares), Matías Moroni (Jaguares), Matías Orlando (Jaguares), Sebastián Cancelliere (Jaguares), Santiago Carreras (Jaguares), Bautista Delguy (Jaguares), Emiliano Boffelli (Jaguares), Mateo Carreras (Jaguares), Juan Bautista Daireaux (Ceibos), Joaquín Tuculet (Jaguares)

BACKS ABROAD – SEPTEMBER
Patricio Fernández (Lyon, FR), Nicolás Sánchez (Stade Français, FR), Benjamín Urdapilleta (Castres, FR), Lucas Mensa (Ceibos), Santiago Cordero (Bordeaux Bègles, FR), Ramiro Moyano (Toulon, FR)

The three opponents can be divided into two categories: (a) Uruguay, (b) Brazil and Chile. This is representative of the respective levels corresponding to overall quality and rankings. This assumption notes that the strongest line-up of the three is likely to take the field against Uruguay.

Below are sample teams of how Pumas could line up for South American Championship:

VS URUGUAY
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya, Joel Sclavi, 4 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 5 Lucas Paulos, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Tomás Lezana, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Domingo Miotti,  11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Santiago Carreras

16 Santiago Socino, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Ignacio Calas, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 23 Matías Moroni

VS BRAZIL and CHILE
1 Federico Wegrzyn, 2 Santiago Socino, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 4 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 5 Lucas Paulos, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Rodrigo Bruni, 8 Juan Bautista Pedemonte, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Matías Orlando, 13 Santiago Chocobares, 14 Matías Moroni, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

16 Julián Montoya, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Ignacio Calas, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Gonzalo García, 22 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 23 Juan Cruz Mallía