Pumas deploy heavy artillery for Springboks opener
Argentina head coach Mario Ledesma has named his team to face the Springboks in this Saturday’s Rugby Championship encounter at the Nelson Mandela Stadium.
The Los Pumas will be captained by hooker Julian Montoya with former skipper and loose forward Pablo Matera also in the starting XV.
Los Pumas face huge challenges ahead of the 11th season of the Rugby Championship, with its squad scattered around – mostly in Europe – and Ledesma only managing to get most of his players together on Monday in Port Elizabeth, the venue for the two Tests against the Springboks.
From there, they will travel to Auckland and Sydney. Fullback Emiliano Boffelli and loose head prop Facundo Gigena were unable to travel due to COVID-19 related issues and will join the team at a later date.
First-choice scrumhalf Tomás Cubelli was injured with his new club in France, Biarritz, and was operated on only a few days ago.
Consequently, Santiago Carreras will don the no.15 jersey against the Boks.
While scrumhalf Felipe Ezcurra will partner with veteran Nicolas Sanchez as this Saturday’s halfback pair.
LOS PUMAS: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Santiago Chocobares, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Matías Moroni, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Facundo Isa, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Carlos Muzzio, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Matías Alemanno, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Sebastian Cancelliere
SPRINGBOKS:
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Aphelele Fassi, 10 Elton Jantjies (vice-captain), 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nché
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Dan du Preez, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Morné Steyn
Date: Saturday, August 14
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha
Kick-off: 17.05 (12.05 ART; 15.05 GMT)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), AJ Jacobs (South Africa)
TMO: Tom Foley (Wales)
Latest Comments
It certainly needs to be cherished. Despite Nick (and you) highlighting their usefulness for teams like Australia (and obviously those in France they find form with) I (mention it general in those articles) say that I fear the game is just not setup in Aus and NZ to appreciate nor maximise their strengths. The French game should continue to be the destination of the biggest and most gifted athletes but it might improve elsewhere too.
I just have an idea it needs a whole team focus to make work. I also have an idea what the opposite applies with players in general. I feel like French backs and halves can be very small and quick, were as here everyone is made to fit in a model physique. Louis was some 10 and 20 kg smaller that his opposition and we just do not have that time of player in our game anymore. I'm dying out for a fast wing to appear on the All Blacks radar.
But I, and my thoughts on body size in particular, could be part of the same indoctrination that goes on with player physiques by the establishment in my parts (country).
Go to commentsHis best years were 2018 and he wasn't good enough to win the World Cup in 2023! (Although he was voted as the best player in the world in 2023)
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