Pumas power up for Boks
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has showed his hand when he named a 26-man squad that will travel to South Africa next week for the opening round of the inaugural Rugby Championship.
The Pumas face the Springboks at Newlands on August 18, as they joined the SANZAR giants of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in the Southern Hemisphere showpiece.
Phelan's squad is made up almost exclusively of players who ply their trade in Europe – Horacio Agulla (Leicester Tigers), Patricio Albacete (Stade Toulousian), Marcos Iván Ayerza (Leicester Tigers), Marcelo Bosch (Biarritz Olympique), Martín Bustos Moyano (Montpellier), Gonzalo Oscar Camacho (Exeter), Manuel Carizza (Biarritz Olympique), Agustín Creevy (Montepellier), Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (Toulon), Santiago Fernández (Montpellier), Juan Figallo (Montpellier), Álvaro Galindo (Racing Metro), Lucas González Amorosino (Montpellier), Eusebio Guiñazú (Libre), Juan Martín Hernández (Racing Metro), Juan José Imhoff (Racing Metro), Juan Pablo Orlandi (Racing Metro), Martín Rodríguez (Stade Francaise), Rodrigo Roncero (Stade Francaise), Federico Nicolás Sánchez (Union Bordeaux Begles), Tomás Vallejos (Harlequins), Nicolás Vergallo (Stade Toulousian).
The squad will have a warm-up match, their second, when they face Stade Francais on Friday – before then travelling to Cape Town for their match against the Boks.
Last week the Pumas lost (21-25) to French Top 14 outfit Orange, but they are determined to produce an improved showing before tackling South Africa.
Prop Marcos Ayerza said they have learnt from the defeat.
"We know we have to improve from last weekend, but we will also learn a lot from our debut [against SA] in the Rugby Championship," the Leicester Tigers front row forward said.
"I think we lacked maturity as a team to know how to handle the anxiety and also we need to learn not to commit penalties at key moments, but we are working hard to correct this and eventually I'm sure we will succeed.
"Friday will be a new measure of how far we've come.
"We have 80 minutes to make amends and try and reverse where we failed last week. If we put in a good performance then it will give us more confidence."
Argentina squad: Horacio Agulla (Bath Rugby), Patricio Albacete (Toulouse), Marcos Ayerza (Leicester Tigers), Marcelo Bosch (Biarritz), Martín Bustos Moyano (Montpellier), Gonzalo Camacho (Exeter Chiefs), Manuel Carizza (Biarritz), Agustín Creevy (Montpellier), Julio Farías (Tucuman Rugby), Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (Toulon), Santiago Fernández (Montpellier), Juan Figallo (Montpellier), Alvaro Galindo (Racing Métro), Lucas González Amorosino (Montpellier), Eusebio Guiñazú (Biarritz), Juan Martín Hernández (Racing Metro), Juan Imhoff (Racing Metro), Martín Landajo (Los Pampas XV), Tomás Leonardi (Los Pampas XV), Juan Pablo Orlandi (Racing Metro), Martín Rodríguez (Stade Francais), Rodrigo Roncero (Stade Francais), Federico Nicolás Sánchez (Bordeaux Begles), Leonardo Senatore (Los Pampas XV), Tomás Vallejos Cinalli (Scarlets), Nicolás Vergallo (Stade Francais)
Argentina's schedule (kick-off is local time):
Saturday, August 18: v South Africa, Cape Town (17.00; 12.00 Argentina time)
Saturday, August 25: v South Africa, Mendoza (16.00; 21.00 SA time)
Saturday, September 8: v New Zealand, Wellington (19.35; 04.35 Arg time)
Saturday, September 15: v Australia, Gold Coast (20.05; 07.05 Arg time)
Saturday, September 29: v New Zealand, La Plata (20.10; 11.10 Sunday, September 30 NZ time)
Saturday, October 6: v Australia, Rosario (20.10; 09.10 Sunday, October 7 Aus time)
