Mexico names squad for Cayman test

Mexico have assembled a squad of 32 players to prepare for their upcoming test against the Cayman Islands next Saturday, December 11, in Mexico City. Las Serpientes have not played a full test since the 2019 Americas Pacific Challenge, with their international rugby in 2020 and thus far in 2021 limited to Olympic qualifiers and most recently the World Sevens Series.

As expected given the 27-month gap between their last meeting with the Caymans, it’s a new-look roster for Mexico with 15 uncapped players included. Among them are the Falcón brothers, Nicolas and Patricio, who are sevens standouts. Also named is prop Borja Mandaluniz who has played professionally for Spanish club Gernika.

Among the notables returnees are prop Maximiliano Douek and hooker Mizael Loredo, both of whom have captained the side in prior tests. Mauricio Moreno and Andrés Rodríguez are set to resume their halfback partnership, with center Franco Guerrero and wing Fharid Samano key attackers out wide.

Rubén Duque continues as Head Coach with his supporting staff consisting of Cristóbal Flores, Heriberto Lachica, Franco García, and Santiago Aguirre.

FORWARDS
*Mario Carranza, Jorge Cortés, Maximiliano Douek, *Borja Mandaluniz, Jesús Rico, *Diego Guzman, Mizael Loredo, *Alejandro Pradillo, Tomás Allen, Abubacar Conde, Sebastian Díaz, Alan Gutíerrez, *Nicolas Falcón, *Luis Galdino, Tobías Hernández, *José Jaramillo, *Luis Martínez, *Yael Reyes

BACKS
*Patricio Falcón, Mauricio Moreno, *Raúl Barrón, Andrés Rodríguez, *Sebastian Garza, *Omar Gidi, Franco Guerrero, Juan Pablo Martínez, Luis Rosete, *Manuel Garrido, *José Larraga, Luc Martin, Fharid Samano, Alejandro Chavez

*denotes uncapped player