World Cup Watch – Argentina – June 03, 2021

Argentina qualified automatically for RWC 2023. Los Pumas will compete in Pool D alongside England, Japan, and qualifiers from Oceania and the Americas. The Americas 2 side could be from North America or South America. As such, this edition of World Cup Watch – Argentina should be of interest to rugby supporters from throughout the region.

For the South Americans, the road to RWC 2023 has begun. Mario Ledesma’s roster for the July 2021 Internationals clarifies his intentions for RWC 2023. The roster contains 32 players, one less than the number that teams will have in France 2023.

Prior to finalizing the 32-man roster, Ledesma named a longest of 67 players. The first announcement underlined the wider player base that Ledesma is looking at while the second identifies the probable roster members and the possible roster members.

 

ARGENTINA

##

NAME

CLUB

POS

CAPS

PROJECTED FIRST XV

1	Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro	Bristol Bears (UK)	LH	62
2	Julián Montoya (capt.)	Leicester Tigers (UK)	HK	62
3	Franciso Gómez Kodela	Lyon (FR)	TH	14
4	Guido Petti	Bordeaux (FR)	LO	56
5	Matías Alemanno	Gloucester (UK)	LO	65
6	Pablo Matera	Stade Français (FR)	FL	69
7	Marcos Kremer	Stade Français (FR)	FL	32
8	Facundo Isa	Toulon (FR)	N8	30
9	Tomás Cubelli	Western Force (AU)	SH	76
10	Nicolás Sánchez	Stade Français (FR)	FH	84
11	Juan Imhoff	Racing 92 (FR)	WI	37
12	Santiago Chocobares	Toulouse (FR)	CE	3
13	Matías Moroni	Leicester Tigers (UK)	CE	47
14	Bautista Delguy	Bordeaux (FR)	WI	14
15	Santiago Carreras	Gloucester (UK)	FB	9

Julián Montoya will lead Argentina for the first time in July. The hooker is projected to also do so at RWC 2023. He replaces Pablo Matera who replaced Agustín Creevy. The non-inclusion of Creevy on Ledesma’s 32-man roster indicates that his test carrier has ended.

Montoya is projected to lead a similar side to that which defeated New Zealand in the 2020 Tri Nations. Veteran props Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro and Francisco Gómez Kodela are both on the roster. This underlines the significance of leaving Creevy out.

There are two close calls in the remaining forwards. First, Matías Alemanno is projected to start ahead of Tomás Lavanini. This comes based on their performances since RWC 2019 and also due to Lavanini’s red card in the must-win match which Argentina lost against England. Second, physicality sees Facundo Isa edging-out Rodrigo Bruni at the back of the scrum.

Tomás Cubelli and Nicolás Sánchez are projected to be the starting halves pairing. Both have competition from others on the roster. Santiago Chocobares and Matías Moroni appear to be the probable centers while the back-three is spoiled for choice; as such, continuity from 2020 is likely.

 

PROJECTED REPLACEMENTS

16	Facundo Bosch	La Rochelle (FR)	HK	2
17	Mayco Vivas	Unattached	LH	12
18	Santiago Medrano	Western Force (AU)	TH	22
19	Tomás Lavanini	Leicester Tigers (UK)	LO	56
20	Santiago Grondona	Newcastle Falcons (UK)	FL	4
21	Gonzalo Bertranou	Dragons (UK)	SH	29
22	Domingo Miotti	Western Force (AU)	FH	1
23	Santiago Cordero	Bordeaux (FR)	FB/WI	38

Facundo Bosch and Santiago Socino are officially in competition to be Montoya’s understudy. At present Bosch is slightly ahead. Mayco Vivas and Santiago Medrano are established names on the roster. Injury this year has seen Vivas unable to challenge for the starting loose head spot.

Santiago Grondona’s next cap may be in the 2021 Rugby Championship. It will not be in the July Internationals. He was Pablo Matera’s understudy in 2020. He started against Australia with Marcos Kremer playing second-row.

Gonzalo Bertranou and Domingo Miotti are officially the projected replacement halves. Both men could move into the starting line-up. The non-selection of Benjamín Urdapilleta signifies that Ledesma will again take two, rather than three, fly halves to the World Cup.

The form of Santiago Cordero since RWC 2019 sees him projected to be ahead of Emiliano Boffelli. As such, Cordero is on the bench and pressing hard to start on one wing.

 

TRAVELING RESERVES

24	Santiago Socino	Gloucester (UK)	HK	4
25	Facundo Gigena	London Irish (UK)	LH	–
26	Enrique Pieretto	Glasgow Warriors (UK)	TH	24
27	Francisco Gorrissen	Jaguares XV	FL	1
28	Tomás Lezana	Western Force (AU)	FL	39
29	Rodrigo Bruni	Vannes (FR)	N8	7
30	Felipe Ezcurra	Jaguares XV	SH	11
31	Jerónimo de la Fuente	Perpignan (FR)	CE	56
32	Matías Orlando	Newcastle Falcons (UK)	CE	47
33	Emiliano Boffelli	Racing 92 (FR)	FB	31

RWC 2023 will see 33 rather than 31 men per player roster. For Argentina, this likely means three specialist scrum-halves in addition to three players for each front-row position. The remaining positions will be covered by utility options.

Santiago Socino, Facundo Gigena and Enrique Pieretto are specialists in their respective positions. Meanwhile, the versatility of Marcos Kremer means one less second-rower will likely be selected. This also frees up the possibility of more coverage in the back-row. Argentina is thus projected to take three back-rowers who will feature in one or two of Argentina’s pool matches in order to rotate.

The projected traveling back reserves are all established names. Their inclusion ahead of others signifies the intentions of the coaching regime.

 

NON TRAVELING RESERVES

34	José Luis González	Mont de Marsan (FR)	HK	–
35	Federico Wegrzyn	Jaguares XV	LH	–
36	Joel Sclavi	Jaguares XV	TH	–
37	Lucas Paulos	Brive (FR)	LO	2
38	Juan Martín González	Jaguares XV	FL	–
39	Joaquín Oviedo	Jaguares XV	N8	–
40	Gonzalo García	Cafeteros Pro (CO)	SH	–
41	Tomás Albornoz	Jaguares XV	FH	–
42	Juan Cruz Mallía	Toulouse (FR)	CE	6
43	Mateo Carreras	Newcastle Falcons (UK)	WI	–
44	Facundo Cordero	Exeter Chiefs (UK)	FB	–

Coverage for injuries may be required. This is why it is vital to identify non traveling reserves. They comes from a combination of European teams and SLAR. A number of them were very unfortunate to miss out on being named on the 32-man roster for July 2021.