Contepomi to miss Pumas' debut
Argentina will be without veteran captain Felipe Contepomi when they make their debut in the new Rugby Championship next month.
The Pumas – who will join the SANZAR giants of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia with back-to-back encounters with the Springboks on August 18 in Cape Town and Mendoza a week later – have named a 33-man training squad.
The Stade Francais playmaker, Contepomi, captained his country during the June internationals.
However, it has been widely expected he would announce his retirement from the international stage. While his departure from the Test arena is not formal yet, he has not been named in the training squad for the Pumas' entry into the Southern Hemisphere championship next month.
Fellow veteran Rodrigo Roncero has been included in the 33-man squad, though, while Toulouse lock Patricio Albacete will lead the side.
Racing Metro flyhalf Juan Martin Hernandez, who missed last year's World Cup with a knee injury, returns for the tournament – with the Premiership-based trio Horacio Agulla, Marcos Ayerza and Gonzalo Camacho all set to be involved.
"The Rugby Championship is going to be very tough," said Albacete.
"We are going to play against the best three teams in the world but it is the only way for us to make progress.
"To achieve a good result we are going to have to be perfect every weekend and we will see how many consecutive perfect games we can play.
"Hopefully we can play some great rugby, especially with the addition of Graham Henry, who is going to contribute so much to our campaign."
Argentina: Horacio Agulla (Bath), Patricio Albacete (Toulouse), Marcos Ayerza (Leicester Tigers), Marcelo Bosch (Biarritz), Martín Bustos Moyano (Montpellier), Maximilano Bustos (Montpellier), Gonzalo Camacho (Exeter Chiefs), Rafael Carballo (Bordeaux Begles), Manuel Carizza (Biarritz), Agustín Creevy (Montpellier), Tomas Cubelli (Los Pampas XV), Tomas De La Vega (Los Pampas XV), Julio Farías Cabello (Los Pampas XV), Juan Fernández Lobbe (Toulon), Santiago Fernández (Montpellier), Juan Figallo (Montpellier), Agustín Figuerola (Brive), Alvaro Galindo (Racing Métro), Lucas González Amorosino (Montpellier), Eusebio Guiñazú (Biarritz), Juan Martín Hernández (Racing Métro), Juan Imhoff (Racing Métro), Martín Landajo (Los Pampas XV), Juan Leguizamón (Lyon), Tomás Leonardi (Los Pampas XV), Juan Pablo Orlandi (Racing Métro), Bruno Postiglioni (Los Pampas XV), Martin Rodríguez (Stade Français), Rodrigo Roncero (Unattached), Nicolás Sánchez (Bordeaux Begles), Leonardo Senatore (Los Pampas XV), Tomás Vallejos (Scarlets), Nicolás Vergallo (Toulouse).
