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Los Pumas are to play their third and final home Rugby Championship fixture this year in London, England. Confirmation came from the UAR that the debated decision of relocating a home test has been finalized and with it Argentina confirms a game vs Australia at Twickenham, the site of the Rugby World Cup 2015 Final.
The UAR had made their intentions known in January and reconfirmed them last month when announcing that Buenos Aires will host Los Pumas vs New Zealand. The match against the world champion All Blacks will be at River Plate Stadium, Argentina’s largest venue, on Saturday October 01, some seven days before the historic match against the Wallabies in London.
The match will be a ground-breaker as for the first time ever a Rugby Championship match is to be played at a neutral venue. It is to be Argentina’s second time relocating a home test to England, the first having been in 2009 when the UAR rented Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester for the first of two tests against England that June.
The UAR feels comfortable in having made the decision to play once on foreign shores. Before the October 08 test at Twickenham the Argentine population will have had home internationals against France, Italy, New Zealand and South Africa.
Yet to be confirmed is where Italy will be playing. The test was to be played in the Patagonian it of Comodoro Rivadavia but plans have since changed with it deemed not to be ready in time for the June 11 date. It is to, instead, play host to an Americas Rugby Championship home test match in 2017.
Northern Argentina will be treated to home tests against France and South Africa with Tucumán hosting the Europeans twice and Salta welcoming back the Springboks. A city is being sought in a different region to continue with the policy of spreading out matches. Resistencia and Córdoba both hosted June tests in 2014 and are strong contenders to host the Italians.
SANZAAR Chief Executive, Andy Marinos, welcomed the decision to play in London. He said: “While we witness the daring and exciting brand of rugby played by Southern Hemisphere teams on a regular basis, last year’s Rugby World Cup well and truly showcased that skill and flair to the rest of the world. Now, we are thrilled to announce that two of our national teams, Argentina and Australia will be returning to the United Kingdom some 12 months later to contest what will be a historic chapter of The Rugby Championship.”
“Aligned with our intent to take this product across the globe, Argentina have embraced this by moving one of their home fixtures to Twickenham thereby affording an ever growing fan base in the United Kingdom with the opportunity to see two of the world’s most entertaining teams to compete for one of the world’s toughest trophies in front of a passionate rugby crowd at Twickenham.”
UAR President Carlos Araujo, noted: “playing again in Twickenham which is one of the main stages of rugby in the world, it´s fantastic for the UAR. The interest in the land where our game was born, to have the presence of the Pumas, speaks of the great growth we have. We will be bringing all the history of our rugby and Southern Hemisphere, with the Wallabies, to the Northern Hemisphere, in an unprecedented move. We are grateful to the Rugby Football Union for letting us be local in their stadium “.
“This year we will have many high level rugby games in our country. We have seven Super Rugby games at the start of the season. In June we travel with the Pumas to different places of the country and then will face the Springboks in Salta and the All Blacks in River for The Rugby Championship”.
Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver, is also speaking positively of the decision. He said: “The Northern Hemisphere enjoyed a taste of The Rugby Championship with all four semi-finalists from the recent Rugby World Cup emanating from the SANZAAR competition.Our recent broadcast agreement with Sky Sports also indicates there is huge interest in the tournament in the UK. From an ARU perspective this is another fantastic opportunity to showcase the Qantas Wallabies to our fans based in England, as well as thousands of new fans.”
“The two nations played out a thoroughly entertaining Rugby World Cup semi-final at Twickenham only a few months ago, so I’m sure fans in England will take the opportunity to see another open, attacking encounter between two teams who love playing with ball in hand.”
