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Pablo Matera is out of the World Cup. The Argentine flanker was injured playing in Saturday’s World Cup win over Japan. The Argentine team medics have confirmed that Matera suffered a grade 3 tear to his right hamstring. The minimal recovery time for such an injury is several weeks.
Matera is both a former Pumas captain and one of the most capped players. He earned his 98th cap on Saturday. He will not be able to earn his 99th in Argentina’s Quarter Final against Wales. The injury means his World Cup is over.
The 30-year-old started in Argentina’s pool matches. He wore the 6 shirt for all 80 minutes against England in Marseille and also against Samoa in Saint-Étienne. He was rested for the pool match against Chile in Nantes and started against Japan also in Nantes. His game time was restricted to 24 minutes against Japan.
The match against Chile may provide insight into Argentina’s potential formation to face Wales. The ball of the Andes saw Juan Martin González playing in place of Matera. He featured at N8 in Argentina’s other matches.
Argentina lined up against Chile with González at 6, Marcos Kremer as the other flanker and Facundo Isa at N8. González and Isa played 80 minutes while Kremer was replaced by Matías Alemanno in the 51st minute. This saw a reconfiguration with Guido Petti moving from second-row to flanker. Petti’s time at flanker was brief. He was replaced by Joaquín Oviedo in the 62nd minute.
Matera is the second Argentine flanker to be ruled out of the World Cup. Santiago Grondona suffered a serious knee injury in Argentina’s final warm-up match which was against Spain in Madrid in late August. Oviedo replaced Grondona on the roster.
Veteran loose head prop Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro was also ruled out of the World Cup. He suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. Mayco Vivas and Lucio Sordoni joined the team ahead of the test match against Spain and both featured as replacements. Vivas replaced Tetaz Chaparro on the roster.
