Argentina name squad for ‘very demanding’ U20 Rugby Championship

Argentine Rugby has named a talented 31-man squad for the inaugural U20s Rugby Championship which will be held at Sunshine Coast Stadium in Queensland, Australia, from May 2 to 12.

Los Pumitas will look to make history against some of the best teams in the southern hemisphere by becoming the champions of the first-ever junior version of the prolific Rugby Championship.

New Zealand and South Africa have also named their final squads for the highly anticipated event, while hosts Australia confirmed a 35-man preliminary group on Tuesday which will be cut down soon.

Argentina U20s head coach Alvaro Galindo, together with his assistants Galo Alvarez Quinones and Carlos Mohapp, have this week revealed the 31 men who will represent Argentina at the tournament.

Coach Galindo has explained that this event will be ideal preparation for Argentina ahead of their quest for glory at the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa from June 29 to July 19.

“Participating in the Rugby Championship is for us the best way to prepare, regardless of what the competition itself is, with the best teams in the southern hemisphere,” Galindo said in a statement.

“We are going to have to adapt to the same conditions that older players must face, such as the hours of travel and the fact of playing three highly demanding games in a few days.

“For this reason, I consider that it is the best way for our players to compete at this level, and also have a reference for what we are going to find later in the World Rugby Championship.

“We are very happy with the amount of activity we had during the preparation process, starting on January 15, with players distributed in the franchises in the academies.

“We compete with franchises, with clubs, and that gave us a good reference. Now, in this last stretch, we are looking for the boys to add as many playing minutes as possible in the different teams in which they are involved, so we arrive with a good rhythm.

“Then we will see in this first experience in the tournament if we can put into practice the good work that was done, knowing that it is a very demanding competition.”

Argentina will come up against tournament hosts Australia in their opening match on May 2 before taking on New Zealand the following Tuesday and finally South Africa on May 12.

Los Pumitas U20 squad

Luciano Asevedo, Alejandro Barrios, Juan Pedro Bernasconi, Tomas Bocco, Marcos Camerlinckx, Diego Correa, Tomas Di Biase, Santino Di Lucca, Efrain Elias, Benjamin Elizalde, Santos Fernandez de Oliveira, Mateo Fossati, Gael Galvan, Alvaro Garcia Iandolino, Gonzalo Gargallo Bazan, Tomas Medina, Juan Penoucos, Gregorio Perez Pardo, Genaro Podesta, Tomas Rapetti, Estanislao Rodriguez, Gacundo Rodriguez, Franco Rossetto, Juan Rossi, Faustino Sanchez Valarolo, Agustin Sarelli, Timoteo Silva, Valentin Soler Filloy, Ignacio Torrado, Juan Manuel Vivas, Antonio Wagener