Then and Now – Pumas that defeated New Zealand in 2020 and 2022

Argentina’s win on Saturday was Los Pumas’ first over the All Blacks in New Zealand. The win came two years after Argentina defeated New Zealand in the 202o Rugby Championship. Some players were involved in the historic double. Who were the players then and now that defeated New Zealand in 2020 and 2022?

Under Mario Ledesma, Los Pumas were 25-15 winners over the All Blacks in Sydney, Australia. Pablo Matera captained the team to victory. Marcos Kremer and Rodrigo Bruni joined him in the back-row while Santiago Grondona debuted from the bench.

Up front Argentina had Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Julián Montoya and Francisco Gómez Kodela in the front-row. Mayco Vivas, Facundo Bosch, and Santiago Medrano all played as replacements. Guido Petti, and Matías Alemanno started in the second-row with positional changes seeing Tomás Lezana entering in the 73rd minute.

Tomás Cubelli and Nicolás Sánchez were the starting halves. Gonzalo Bertranou replaced Cubelli in the  77th minute while Nicolás Sánchez played the full 80 minutes. Santiago Chocobares made his test debut for his country. He and Matías Orlando were the starters. Juan Imhoff returned for his first cap since 2015 to play in the back-three with Bautista Delguy and Santiago Carreras.

Click here for the 2020 Rugby Championship match report from Sydney.

The 2022 win in Christchurch saw Matera playing N8 rather than flanker. Kremer started both matches in the 7 shirt. A change saw Juan Martin González playing in the back-row with Bruni not involved in the Christchurch match. González was in the 2020 match on the wider roster as a prospective Puma of the future.

Bruni and Medrano were both in Christchurch but left out of the test match. Julián Montoya was joined by new props in Thomas Gallo, and Joel Sclavi. A change to the second-row saw Tomás Lavanini starting with Guido Petti on the bench. Vivas, and Grondona were both replacements again while in 2022 Santiago Socino was Montoya’s substitute late in the contest.

The backs saw Tomás Cubelli and Gonzalo Bertranou switching roles from 202o to 2022. Santiago Carreras move from fullback to fly half while Lucio Cinti went from ben unused on the bench in he 2020 win to starting on the left wing in 2022. Matías Orlando moved from outside center in 2020 to inside center in 2022. Matías Moroni and Emiliano Boffelli missed the 2020 test match but played in 2022.

Click here for the 2022 Rugby Championship match report from Christchurch.

The players who played in both wins are Matías Alemanno, Gonzalo Bertranou, Santiago Carreras, Tomás Cubelli, Santiago Grondona, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Julián Montoya, Matías Orlando, Guido Petti, and Mayco Vivas.