Argentina to use a 35 man squad for The Rugby Championship

[Melhor Time]

[h=3]http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.com/2012/01/argentina-to-use-35-man-squad-for-rugby.html

Argentina to use a 35 man squad for The Rugby Championshiphttp://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.com/2012/01/argentina-to-use-35-man-squad-for-rugby.html[/h]

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[TD="class: tr-caption"]Santiago Phelan[/TD]
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Plans for 2012 are already well underway with what is to be a groundbreaking year for Argentine rugby appearing to have a solid outline in place by the coaching staff. Los Pumas headcoach, Santiago Phelan told Argentine site rugbytime that he is going to have a squad of 35 players for The Rugby Championship this year. The squad is therefore going to be larger than that used at Rugby World Cup´s which has a limit of 30 players. While Phelan has said how many will be a part of the national squad for the historical tournament it is not yet clear as to who will be selected. Phelan has merely pointed out that the 35 players are to be Argentina´s best and that in addition to having many European based players there will also be various local players, as is normally the case for Pumas squads.


Phelan selected a squad of 17 forwards and 13 backs for Rugby World Cup 2011. The squad included five props but only two hookers and had Gonzalo Tiesi as the only specialist centre. Phelan said in the interview that the coaching staff are wanting Los Pumas to continue playing a style of rugby that maintains the bases of Argentine rugby: good attainment (and) scrum, but we think we have players to develop a more dynamic game. But it is very dangerous to try to play an entrirely dynamic style of rugby because we are not accustomes to it. We need to go about it bit by bit.


With this in mind it is fear to assume that Argentina are going to play a more open brand of rugby. A style the South Americans only really played when they were losing matches at the World Cup. When Argentina were in control of matches or losing by small margins the game plan was far from being running rugby. In the match vs England, for instance, Argentina showed significantly more flair in the later minutes of play following England´s try which gave the Europeans the lead. Perhaps Argentina are going to try to play more this way in 2012. The overwhelming factor preventing Pumas teams from playing an expansive brand of rugby has been the players lack of time together. Pumas players and coaches have traditionally had the short end of the stick in this regard. When Argentina defeated England in 2006 some of the players only arrived in London on Tuesday despite the match being played on Saturday and being the first of three November internationals that year.


This seasons Aviva Premiership and Top 14 Orange have seen Argentine players shine in most positions. Phelan and co can be confident that adopting a more dynamic brand of rugby can not only work but that it is already hapenning to a number of Pumas players abroad. Argentina´s traditional forward strength continues with players performing well in the tightfive. The backrow is, oddly, the area in which Argentina has its fewest number of professionals playing reguarly. However Juan Fernández Lobbe´s injury has enabled Leonardo Senatore to play for Toulon. While Juan Leguizamón is playing a lot for Lyon. Where it is really interesting, however, is in the backline with Pumas playing scoring a higher than normal ratio of tries and, in general, playing to a high standard.

Just exactly who the 35 will be appears to be not such a difficult task considering that of the 30 players from New Zealand 2011 only two will no longer play for Argentina - Mario Ledesma and Martín Scelzo. It is probable that the remaining 28 will almost all be retained and the remaining seven places taken up by newcomers and players returning from injury. The seven spots are likely to be distributed to different positions with Martín Bustos Moyano and Juan Martín Hernández being certainties for wing and flyhalf probably in place of Nicolás Sánchez. Ignacio Mieres also looks to have the better of Sánchez on form as does Joaquín Tuculet in comparison to Agustín Gosio. Juan Orlandi may return in place of Scelzo and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro could be included too. Andres Bordoy appears more like than Eusebio Guiñazú to be used as a hooker and Matias Corteze may well be third choice. Esteban Lozada looms as being included if Phelan opts to have five secondrowers while Alvaro Galindo should return after missing the World Cup through injury. Agustín Figuerola and Alfredo Lalanne are both likely to be included and used behind Nicolás Vergallo.

The options avaliable to Phelan are also cross-positional with a number of players proving to be capable of perfoming well abroad in multiple positions. Marcelo Bosch has been effective at both 13 and 10 for Biarritz, Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga has looked better at 12 than 15 for Stade Français and Juan Imhoff has proven to be outstanding not only on the wing but also at fullback. Felipe Contepomi´s form, should it continue will see him play 10 with Juan Martín Hernández at best playing fullback unless he is able to improve his performances. A concern remains of Tiesi and Vergallo with neither player reciving substantial game time so far this season. Horacio Agulla could well be used at outside center as a makeshift player given the back-three alternatives of Lucas González Amorosino, Martín Bustos Moyano, Gonzalo Camacho and Juan Imhoff with all playing well and meriting places in the starting lineup. This would mean Bosch and Agulla would be given preference to Tiesi and would also allow for two speedsters on the bench should Agulla start on the wing and be shifted to the midfield during a match.

Possible Squad of 35 for The Rugby Championship

Prop
Marcos Ayerza (Leicester Tigers, England)
Maximilano Bustos (Montpellier, France)
Juan Figallo (Montpellier, France)
Juan Orlandi (Racing Métro, France)
Rodrigo Roncero (Stade Français, France)

Hooker
Andres Bordoy (Pau, France)
Matias Corteze (Gloucester, England)
Agustín Creevy (Montpellier, France)

Secondrow
Patricio Albacete (Toulouse, France)
Manuel Carizza (Biarrtiz, France)
Mariano Galarza (Los Pampas XV)
Tomas Vallejos Cinalli (Harlequins, England)

Backrow
Alejandro Campos (Los Pampas XV)
Julio Farías Cabello (Los Pampas XV)
Tomás de la Vega (Los Pampas XV)
Alvaro Galindo (Racing Métro, France)
Juan Leguizamón (Lyon, France)
Juan Fernández Lobbe (Toulon, France)
Leonardo Senatore (Toulon, France)

Scrumhalf
Agustín Figuerola (Brive, France)
Alfredo Lalanne (London Scottish, England)
Nicolás Vergallo (Toulouse, France)

Flyhalf
Felipe Contepomi (Stade Français, France)
Juan Martín Hernández (Racing Métro, France)
Ignacio Mieres (Exeter Chiefs, England)

Centre
Marcelo Bosch (Biarritz, France)
Santiago Fernández (Montpellier, France)
Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga (Stade Français, France)
Gonzalo Tiesi (Stade Français, France)

Back-Three
Horacio Agulla (Leicester Tigers, England)
Lucas González Amorosino (Montpellier, France)
Martín Bustos Moyano (Montpellier, France)
Gonzalo Camacho (Exeter Chiefs, England)
Juan Imhoff (Racing Métro, France)
Joaquín Tuculet (Sale Sharks, England)

 

[Darwin]

Interesting piece there Melhor. Out of curiosity has Phelan given any reason as to why he is going to select 35 players, rather than 30? I tried reading the article myself, but my Spanish - though improving - isn't very good! 35 just seems like a very large number of players to me for a 6 game tournament - I know New Zealand and Austrlaia tend to only pick 30-man squads (at most) for the Tri-nations.

 

[stus768]

Can someone explain what the deal with Los Pampas XV is? They've been playing in SA?

 

[Melhor Time]

Darwin_23

He didn´t explain why he´s going to have a squad of 35 but I assume it is related to the World Cup in which Argentina lost first choice players Gonzalo Tiesi and Juan Fernández Lobbe to injury and Rodrigo Roncero and Felipe Contepomi were both forced to sit out one game each and, in both cases, it looked like being more.

Can someone explain what the deal with Los Pampas XV is? They've been playing in SA?

Correct.

Los Pampas XV is made up of Argentine based players. It is designed to bridge the game from amateur rugby in Argentina to the international level. The team, Los Pampas XV, play in South Africa´s Vodacom Cup and won the 2011 event undefeated. Have a look here if interested: http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.com/2011/05/los-pampas-xv-win-vodacom-cup-2011.html

It has succeeded in producing international players with a large number now playing pro in Europe and some of them are doing very, very well.

 

[Croket66]

Now they win Vodacom Cup, they need to play the Currie Cup i think (to make another bridge between argentinian domestic rugby and Super Rugby)

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Now they win Vodacom Cup, they need to play the Currie Cup i think (to make another bridge between argentinian domestic rugby and Super Rugby)

That would be ideal for them from a development point of view but unfortunately it won't happen; the Currie Cup is being reduced to 6 teams and there just isn't the space or enough money (the real reason the premier division is being reduced to 6 teams) to make creating the space worth while.

Maybe they'll feature in the 1st division and that would probably be best for them as well to make the transition a more gradual one. They'll be playing some good teams if the Griquas get relegated though I suppose the team will look a lot different and would lose a lot of players when relegated.