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Los Pumas face a nervous wait over Pablo Matera’s fitness. The former Argentine captain was injured on Friday evening while playing for Stade Français. He was replaced in the 22nd minute by the returning Marcos Kremer.
Matera left after taking a blow to his knee. He will see a specialist on Monday to determine the extent of his injury. Reports out of France note that the injury is serious and that the Pumas flanker is likely to miss the July Internationals. Monday’s studies will confirm if his cruciate ligaments were affected or not; if so he would require a significant time off.
Stade Français were beaten 38-21 by Racing 92. His next club match will be in another country and in another competition. Matera will return to Super Rugby next season. He will make the move to New Zealand to play for the Crusaders.
Argentina will tour Europe facing Romania in Bucharest and facing Wales twice in Cardiff. The tour will be without Matera’s 2020 understudy; Santiago Grondona was injured in February. He is expected to be back in time for the 2021 Rugby Championship.
Argentina have also lost Matías Orlando for the July Internationals. Grondona’s teammate at the Newcastle Falcons, Orlando was injured last weekend while playing in the English Premiership. He was replaced by Toulouse center Juan Cruz Mallía for July. Meanwhile, veteran winger Juan Imhoff is current sidelined and in doubt for international duty.
Without Matera and Grondona the back-row options will need consideration. Ledesma’s 32-man roster for the tour contains Rodrigo Bruni (Vannes, FR), Francisco Gorrissen (Jaguares XV), Facundo Isa (Toulon, FR), Marcos Kremer (Stade Français, FR), Tomás Lezana (Western Force, AU) as the back-row options.
In the event that Matera cannot play then an additional player will join the roster. Ledesma may, as he has done before, move Guido Petti to flanker and thus call-up Lucas Paulos (Brive, FR) to the roster. Alternatively, the excellent SLAR season may see Juan Martín González (Jaguares XV) added to the roster.
