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In a rarity, a rugby powerhouse travel to face a team not competing at the Rugby World Cup. Argentina face Spain in Madrid on Saturday. It is Los Pumas’ final match before their opening fixture of the World Cup against England in Marseille.
Promoted as The Match, the fixture is genuinely a welcome change and what rugby truly needs. A giant of the sport playing an away test match in a highly reputable city against a former World Cup team.
Spain’s non-involvement came after Los Leones had qualified for the World Cup. Spain finished second on the table to join Georgia as qualifying as Europe 1 and Europe 2. Disqualification after Gavin van den Berg was not legal saw Spain replaced by Romania and Portugal entering repechage.
Spain’s roster at the time had a high proportion of foreign-born players. Argentina was among the countries represented. While there have been institutional changes, the team retains many players qualifying via eligibility laws other than birth.
Head Coach Miguel Velasco has eight Argentines in Spain’s 23 to face Los Pumas. N8 Facundo Domínguez, scrum-half Estanislao Bay, centers Gonzalo López and Iñaki Mateu, and wingers Federico Casteglioni and Martiniano Cian all start. Casteglioni will also captain the team. Bautista Güemes and Santiago Ovejero will feature as Spain’s replacement fly half and hooker.
Centers Gonzalo López and Iñaki Mateu both moved to Spain as children. They are homegrown; that being products of the Spanish system. They went through the Alcobendas club in Madrid.
Argentina’s last test match before the World Cup is also the first of the year for Tomás Cubelli and Marcos Kremer. The former will have the honor of captaining Los Pumas with Julián Montoya sitting out the match.
Hooker Agustín Creevy will have his first start of the year. So too will props Joel Sclavi and Eduardo Bello, second-rower Guido Petti, N8 Facundo Isa, and fly half Nicolás Sánchez. Sclavi will have a career first test start at loose head prop. Of note is that he has played in the position for La Rochelle.
The decision to start Sclavi at loose head follows the injury to Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro who is out of the World Cup. Mayco Vivas will be cover from the bench against Spain while Lucio Sordoni has also flown in to cover tight head. One of them will officially replace Tetaz Chaparro on the World Cup roster.
Guido Petti will be the prime lineout jumper. Of note is that Matías Alemanno is fit-again and will feature as a replacement. In addition, the decision to start Facundo Isa at N8 rather than flanker sees Rodrigo Bruni playing on the side of the scrum. With Marcos Kremer and Pedro Rubiolo also starting, Los Pumas will have endless ball-carriers.
The Match will see Nicolás Sánchez earning his 98th test cap. He is on target to follow Creevy in reaching the magical mark of 100 caps this year. Creevy did so at home against South Africa. Sánchez will be able to do so potentially against Samoa at the World Cup.
The replacements do not feature a fly half. Sánchez will be covered by Juan Cruz Mallía who will start in his regular test position of fullback. Mallía played some matches for Toulouse this past position in the pivot position. He also featured in a dual fly-half role with Santiago Carreras in the second-half against South Africa in Johannesburg.
It has been a long time since Spain and Argentina faced-off in a test match. The teams played home-and-away matches in 1992. Argentina won 43-34 in Madrid and 38-10 in Buenos Aires. Prior to that Argentina defeated Spain 40-12 in Mar del Plata in 1987 and 28-19 in Madrid in 1982.
More recent meetings have been Spain against the Argentina XV, the national next-of-XV. The teams played matches against one-another in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
The Argentina XV won 30-10 in 2015. Players capped at the time or since by Argentina included Tomás Baravalle, Gonzalo Bertranou, Facundo Bosch, Santiago García Botta, and Manuel Plaza. Juan Ignacio Brex also played in the match. Brex is on Italy’s roster for the World Cup.
Felipe Ezcurra captained an Argentina XV side containing additional Pumas Gabriel Ascárate, Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, Sebastián Cancelliere, and Carlos Muzzio to a 44-8 win over Spain in 2016.
The Argentina XV won 37-5 in 2017. Six players capped then or since featured for the Argentina XV. They were Lautaro Bazán Vélez, Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, Felipe Ezcurra, Facundo Gigena, Juan Cruz Guillemaín, and Santiago Medrano.
Lautaro Bazán Vélez will thus make history in becoming the first player to play for the Argentina XV and Los Pumas against Spain.
SPAIN
1 Thierry Futeu 2 Pablo Miejimolle, 3 Bittor Aboitiz, 4 Lucas Guillaume, 5 Alejandro Suárez, 6 Matthew Foulds, 7 Mario Pichardie, 8 Facundo Domínguez, 9 Estanislao Bay, 10 Gonzalo Vunuesa, 11 Federico Casteglioni (capt.), 12 Gonzalo López, 13 Iñaki Mateu, 14 Martiniano Cian, 15 John Wessel Bell
Replacements: 16 Santiago Ovejero, 17 Raúl Calzón, 18 Lucas Santamaría, 19 Raphael Nieto, 20 Víctor Sánchez, 21 Ike Irusta, 22 Bautista Güemes, 23 Jordi Jorba
ARGENTINA
1 Joel Sclavi, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli (capt.), 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 23 Martín Bogado
RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 – WARM-UP
Date: Saturday, August 26
Kick-Off: 8:45pm (Spain); 3:45pm (Argentina)
Venue: Estadio Civitas Metropolitano, Madrid
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Federico Vedovelli (Italy); Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
vs
COMPLETE RESULTS
1992 – Spain 34-43 Argentina (Madrid, Spain)
1992 – Argentina 38-10 Spain (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1987 – Argentina 40-12 Spain (Mar del Plata, Argentina)
1982 – Spain 19-28 Argentina (Madrid, Spain)
