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Argentine Head Coach Felipe Contepomi has named a 31-man roster for the 2024 Rugby Championship. The team will face New Zealand in Wellington on August 10 and in Auckland on August 17. Both matches will be 4:05am kick-off time in Argentina.
The roster consists of players who play in Argentina, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and Scotland. There is also a former New Zealand based player; fullback Martín Bogado played Super Rugby for the Highlanders in 2023-2024.
The roster features a mixture of names from the July Internationals against France and Uruguay and players who sat out those matches. The lack of a global rugby season saw Felipe Contepomi rotating certain players for the test matches against Les Bleus and Los Teros.
The 31-man roster to travel to New Zealand sees Lucio Cinti, Agustín Creevy, Juan Martín González, Tomás Lavanini, Juan Cruz Mallía and Joel Sclavi all returning. They all played for Los Pumas at Rugby World Cup 2023. There is also a place for the uncapped Efraín Elías who captained Argentina at the recent World Rugby u20 Championship.
The return of Lavanini and the inclusion of Elías notably come without spots for Gloucester’s Matías Alemanno, Bordeaux’s Guido Petti and Bayonne’s Lucas Paulos. This is a notable shake-up in the second-rower position which is furthered by the inclusion of Franco Molina who recently debuted against France.
Also missing out is Jerónimo de la Fuente. The veteran center with 80 test caps has decided, for personal reasons, to not play in the 2024 Rugby Championship. No new player has been called-up. Contepomi has a spot for veteran Matías Orlando instead. This sees a Major League Rugby (MLR) player featuring in the Rugby Championship for the first-time.
Missing names include the aforementioned Alemanno, Paulos, Petti, and de la Fuente. In addition, Santiago Grondona and Emiliano Boffelli are both injured. The latter has undergone back surgery. This means Santiago Carreras and Tomás Albornoz are the goal-kickers.
Flanker Joaquín Moro, who debuted against Uruguay with two tries, is missing as is Ignacio Mendy who scored a hat-trick in Punta del Este. Ignacio Calles missed out despite also featuring against Uruguay. Uncapped hooker Bautista Bernasconi was on the July roster only to be ruled out through injury. Mateo Soler was also selected but did not play. Finally, World Cup N8 Rodrigo Bruni and scrum-half Tomás Cubelli have not been selected.
Agustín Creevy is the most capped player with 108 appearances for Los Pumas. Pablo Matera has the next most with 101. Captain Julián Montoya has 97 caps, though his place in the 23 against New Zealand is far from certain after he was injured against France.
Props Eduardo Bello and Mayco Vivas are both approaching the milestone of 25 caps. They can both reach the quarter-century mark while on tour in August in New Zealand.
 ARGENTINA – FORWARDS |
LOOSE HEAD PROP
Thomas Gallo (Benetton, IT; 26 caps)
Joel Sclavi (La Rochelle, FR; 18 caps)
Mayco Vivas (Gloucester, GB-ENG; 23 caps)
HOOKER
Agustín Creevy (unattached; 108 caps)
Julián Montoya (Leicester Tigers, GB-ENG; 97 caps)
Ignacio Ruiz (Perpignan, FR; 9 caps)
TIGHT HEAD PROP
Eduardo Bello (Newcastle Falcons, GB-ENG; 24 caps)
Lucio Sordoni (Glasgow Warriors, GB-SCO; 6 caps)
SECOND-ROW
Efraín Elías (Toulouse, FR; uncapped)
Tomás Lavanini (Lyon, FR; 86 caps)
Franco Molina (Dogos; 3 caps)
Pedro Rubiolo (Newcastle Falcons, GB-ENG; 12 caps)
FLANKER
Juan Martín González (Saracens, GB-ENG; 31 caps)
Marcos Kremer (Clermont, FR; 67 caps)
Pablo Matera (Honda Heat, JP; 101 caps)
Juan Bautista Pedemonte (Vannes, FR; 1 cap)
N8
Joaquín Oviedo (Perpignan, FR; 5 caps)
| ARGENTINA – BACKS |
SCRUM-HALF
Lautaro Bazán Vélez (Benetton, IT; 15 caps)
Gonzalo Bertranou (unattached; 60 caps)
Gonzalo García (Zebre, IT; 4 caps)
FLY HALF
Tomás Albornoz (Benetton, IT; 8 caps)
Santiago Carreras (Gloucester, GB-ENG; 45 caps)
CENTER
Santiago Chocobares (Toulouse, FR; 15 caps)
Lucio Cinti (Saracens, GB-ENG; 23 caps)
Matías Moroni (unattached; 82 caps)
Matías Orlando (Miami Sharks, US; 61 caps)
WING
Mateo Carreras (Bayonne, FR; 20 caps)
Santiago Cordero (Connacht, IE; 52 caps)
Bautista Delguy (Clermont, FR; 27 caps)
FULLBACK
Martín Bogado (Oyonnax, FR; 4 caps)
Juan Cruz Mallía (Toulouse, FR; 32 cap)
