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Argentina’s loss against England in Tokyo earlier today was the final match of the tournament for Tomás Cubelli. The starting scrum half suffered a torn calf muscle in his left leg and will not play again this year. Flying to Japan as his replacement is Gonzalo Bertranou.
The match schedule means that the timing of the injury could not be worse for Argentina. Los Pumas will play against the USA in Kumagaya on Wednesday. That fixture is to fall three rest days after Argentina’s match vs England. World Rugby does not tolerate a shorter turn-around between matches.
Bertranou will arrive in Japan on Monday. He will thereby have to immediately adjust to beat the jet-lag and will be unable to train with the team prior to the announcement on Monday.
The scrum half from Mendoza was a surprise exclusion from Mario Ledesma’s 31-man RWC 2019 roster. Ledesma opted for just two scrum halves with Felipe Ezcurra chosen as the understudy to Cubelli.
The 25-year-old was the starting scrum-half under Ledesma in 2018. In 2019 he was injured after just one match of Super Rugby which saw Cubelli becoming the starting no 9 and Ezcurra subsequently moving ahead of Martín Landajo.
With Cubelli out injured Ezcurra will not be the starting no 9 against the USA. Bertranou will join the roster and be named as the no 21 to face the Eagles.
The trio of Cubelli, Ezcurra, and Bertranou are to again play Super Rugby for Los Jaguares in 2020. Depending on the final diagnosis of Cubelli’s injury he may miss out on the pre-season which begins in January.
