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The uncapped Santiago Pernas has earned his first call-up to Los Pumas. Felipe Contepomi has added the 21-year-old to his roster with Matías Orlando dropping out. The change sees Pernas joining the roster in Santiago del Estero ahead of Argentina’s first of two Rugby Championship 2024 fixtures against South Africa.
Pernas was outstanding in Super Rugby Americas 2024. Americas Rugby News named Pernas as the Best Back of the season in the league. He was selected for ARN’s Super Rugby Americas 2024 All-Stars on the right wing.
The selection sees Pernas called-up from the Argentina XV. He scored a hat-trick for Argentina’s next-of-XV in the 64-29 away win over Brazil on September 08. Matías Medrano also played in that match and is now with Los Pumas in Santiago del Estero.
His call-up to the roster comes following Argentina’s record-breaking win over Australia. Matías Orlando was not involved in the 67-27 win. Moreover, Orlando is yet to play in the Rugby Championship this year. He featured for Argentina against France in Mendoza and Buenos Aires in July and also in the away match against Uruguay in Punta del Este.
Orlando is out of the match at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero with a muscular injury. Pernas is his replacement, though he plays wing rather than center. The change come after Matías Moroni returned to the roster to join Santiago Chocobares, Lucio Cinti and the uncapped Justo Piccardo as the center options.
Despite his regular position being outside center, Moroni played wing against New Zealand in both Wellington and Auckland. In other words, Moroni and Pernas mean there are six players on the current roster in consideration to play wing against the Springboks: Mateo Carreras (Bayonne, FR; 20 caps), Bautista Delguy (Clermont, FR; 27 caps), Rodrigo Isgró (Halrequins, GB-ENG; 3 caps) and Ignacio Mendy (Benetton, IT; 2 caps).
