The Argentina squad to welcome South Africa in Santiago del Estero

After the first four rounds of the demanding Rugby Championship, Los Pumas have 2 wins and 2 losses and are in second place in the table with 10 points, being the only runners-up to South Africa, which, with four wins in a row, leads the championship with 18 points. The two-time world champions will be the national team's last rival in the two remaining rounds to complete the tournament; the first of them in Santiago del Estero on Saturday, September 21, and the last round in Nelspruit at the Mbombela Stadium on September 28.

Rassie Erasmus's men come into this final stage of the Championship as the only unbeaten side in the tournament. They played the first two rounds against the Wallabies away from home and won 33-7 in Brisbane and 30-12 in Perth. Then it was time to welcome the All Blacks at home and it was there that the two-time world champions came into their own: they won 31-27 at the legendary Ellis Park in Johannesburg and 18-12 in Cape Town.

The Pumas, for their part, in the first four dates of the tournament obtained two victories and two defeats. On the tour of New Zealand they won in Wellington by 38-30 and fell in Auckland by 10-42, while against the Wallabies in our country, the result was a 19-20 defeat in La Plata and a 67-27 victory in Santa Fe.

The first of the two matches against the Springboks will be at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero, on Saturday, September 21 at 6 p.m. The only previous game for Los Pumas in that stadium was in 2022 against Scotland, where they won 34-31 and won the series against the Europeans. The last date of the Rugby Championship will be in South Africa at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit; the only time that Los Pumas played there against the Springboks was in 2016, with a victory for the locals by 30-23.

The Pumas and Springboks faced each other a total of 36 matches, with a record of 3 wins for the national team, 32 losses and one draw. The last victory was in 2018 in Mendoza, when Los Pumas obtained the largest difference against the South Africans by 32-19. In the last two matches between them in 2023, Los Pumas fell at Ellis Park in Johannesburg by a tight 21-22, and in Vélez by 13-24.

Regarding the Rugby Championship, which began in 2012, they have played 19 times: 3 wins, 15 losses and 1 draw. The player with the most appearances is Pablo Matera with 17 and the one who scored the most tries was Matías Moroni with 4 conquests.

Felipe Contepomi, head coach of Los Pumas, spoke about the national team's upcoming matches against South Africa: “The Rugby Championship final is coming up and it is a very important moment for us given that we are going to face the two-time world champions. Without a doubt, these are going to be two great matches and we will face them with a lot of responsibility. We are not measured by results but by our actions and our behavior, and that is where we will put our focus in the next two weeks. I would like to thank all the Argentine fans for all their affection for the team and tell them that we are very happy to meet again in Santiago del Estero in the next few days.”

SQUAD

The Pumas will have a squad of 34 players for the week of training in Santiago del Estero (they meet this Friday, September 13) and after the match the list of those who will travel to Nelspruit will be released.

Ignacio Calles, Matías Moroni and Lucio Sordoni will return to the squad, while Matías Medrano and Joaquín Moro will be called up on a development basis.  

Eduardo Bello, for his part, suffered an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the last test against Australia in Santa Fe and will undergo surgery.  

Below is the squad to host South Africa in Santiago del Estero:

FORWARDS

1. BERNASCONI , Bautista

2. STREETS , Ignacio

3. THIN, Peter

4.  ROOSTER , Thomas

5.  GONZALEZ , Juan Martin

6.  GRONDONA , Santiago

7.  KREMER,  Marcos

8.  LAVANINI , Thomas

9.  MATERA , Pablo

10. MEDRANO , Matías (development player)

11.  MOLINA , Franco

12.  MONTOYA , Julian

13. MORO, Joaquín (development player) 

14.  OVIEDO , Joaquin

15.  PETTI , Guido

16.  RUBIOLO , Pedro

17.  RUIZ , Ignacio

18.  SCLAVI , Joel

19.  SORDONI , Lucio

BACKS

1.  BATHROBE , Thomas

2. BAZAN VELEZ,  Lautaro

3.  BERTRANOU , Gonzalo

4.  RACES , Matthew

5.  RACES , Santiago

6.  CHOCOBARES,  Santiago

7.  CINTI , Lucio

8.  DELGUY , Baptist

9.  GARCIA , Gonzalo

10.  ISGRÓ , Rodrigo

11.  MALLIA , Juan Cruz

12.  MENDY,  Ignacio

13. MORONI , Matthias

14. ORLANDO,  Matias

15.  PICCARDO,  Justo

FIXTURE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP

Matchday 1 – New Zealand 30 vs Los Pumas 38, in Wellington

Matchday 2 – New Zealand 42 vs Los Pumas 10, in Auckland

Matchday 3 – Pumas 19 vs Australia 20, in La Plata

Matchday 4 – Pumas 67 vs Australia 27, in Santa Fe

Date 5 – September 21 Los Pumas vs South Africa, in Santiago del Estero

Unique Mother of Cities Stadium, at 6:00 p.m.

Matchday 6 – September 28 South Africa vs Los Pumas, in Nelspruit

Mbombela Stadium, at 12:05 in our country