Argentina Squad for June

Santiago ´Tati´ Phelan

The UAR´s announcement of the first senior squad for 2012 took place yesterday afternoon. It was highlighted by the inclusion of the veteran pair of loosehead prop Rodrigo Roncero and flyhalf and captain Felipe Contepomi, veterans of four Rugby World Cup´s. Both players are not going to be playing for their country after 2012. Their selection, however, was more about experience than anything else as Santiago Phelan named a squad than can be described as nothing other than under strength. Phelan has rested World Cup players with Contepomi and Roncero only being joined by Julio Farías Cabello, Genaro Fessia, Agustín Gozio and Leonardo Senatore to give Los Pumas just six players from the squad that competed at Rugby World Cup 2011.
     
In place of the European professionals, Phelan has taken the bold step of naming 16 players from Los Pampas XV. No players from the play-offs of the Top 14 and the Aviva Premiership have been included which would appear to reflect the negotiations between the UAR and European clubs to not over play players. It also creates a problem, however, with players participating in The Rugby Championship sseemingly entering the international season without playing other tests. Martín Bustos Moyano, for instance remains a strong contender to be Argentina´s starting winger despite only having ever played one international four years ago. While he has been let out due to the Top 14 barrage, Phelan has gone for Top 14 players from Agen, Biarritz, Brive and Stade Français as well as Aviva Premiership players from Exeter, the Harlequins and Sale. The most notable inclusion being Ignacio Mieres who had a tremendous season at flyhalf for Exeter seeing the club qualify for the 2012-2013 Heineken Cup. He now looks set to form a 10-12 combination with Felipe Contepomi and is likely to also be the goalkicker. The pair are likely to be backed up by Benjamin Urdapilleta who played in the centre for the Harlequins over the past two seasons.

But, not all players from outside the leading Top 14 sides have been selected. While Contepomi is in there is no Marcelo Bosch or Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga with the World Cup pair both being rested ahead of The Rugby Championship. Neither Biarritz not Stade Français will compete in the Top 14 play-offs which suggests firmly that the June internationals should indeed be the end of the road for Contepomi who is set to pass the torch. Of course, Phelan could very well make changes during June to field an entirely different team for the French tests. However, neither Italy nor France will be at full strength, suggesting that the squad Phelan has named is actually not as weak as it may appear to be. To the contrary, the June tests are going to be far from what they could be.

Curiously there is no place in the squad for Brive scrumhalf Agustín Figuerola, Bordeaux winger Rafael Carballo or Agen centre Miguel Avramovic. The non-selection of these players appears to suggest that their international careers are over with Phelan opting to give high-performance players a chance to shine with the impressive Tomás Cubelli likely to be the starting scrumhalf and both Gabriel Ascárate and Matías Orlando picked ahead of Avramovic. The make up of the squad also suggests that Los Pampas XV captain, Julio Farías Cabello is now considered a secondrower rather than a backrower. He should start in the number 4 shirt. 

Suggested XV to face Italy:
15 Joaquín Tuculet
14 Belisario Agulla
13 Agustín Gozio
12 Felipe Contepomi
11 Manuel Montero
10 Ignacio Mieres
9 Tomás Cubelli
8 Leonardo Senatore
7 Tomás de la Vega
6 Tomás Leonardi
5 Santiago Guzmán
4 Julio Farías Cabello
3 Francisco Gómez Kodela
2 Andrés Bordoy
1 Rodrigo Roncero

Bench: 16 Bruno Postiglioni, 17 Francisco Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Rodrigo Baez, 19 Genaro Fessia, 20 Martín Landajo, 21 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 22 Gabriel Ascárate

The clash vs Italy will take place in San Juan on Saturday June 09 and will  be followed by two matches against France on the two subsequent Saturday´s. The first taking place in Córdoba and the second in Tucumán. 

29 Man Pumas Squad

Belisario Agulla (Agen, France)
Gabriel Ascárate (Los Pampas XV)
Rodrigo Báez (Los Pampas XV)
Facundo Barrea (Los Pampas XV)
Andrés Bordoy (Pau, France)
Rodrigo Bruno (Los Pampas XV)
Felipe Contepomi (Stade Français, France)
Tomás Cubelli (Los Pampas XV)

Tomás de la Vega (Los Pampas XV)
Julio Farías Cabello (Los Pampas XV)
Genaro Fessia (Los Pampas XV)
Francisco Gómez Kodela (Biarritz, France)
Agustín Gozio (London Scottish, England)
Eusebio Guiñazú (Biarritz, France)

Santiago Guzmán (Los Pampas XV)

Pablo Henn (Brive, France)

Martín Landajo (Los Pampas XV)

Tomás Leonardi (Los Pampas XV)

Benjamin Macome (Los Pampas XV)

Ignacio Mieres (Exeter Chiefs, England)

Román Miralles (Los Pampas XV)

Manuel Montero (Los Pampas XV)

Matías Orlando (Los Pampas XV)

Bruno Postiglioni (Los Pampas XV)

Rodrigo Roncero (Stade Français, France)

Leonardo Senatore (Los Pampas XV)

Francisco Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (Stade Français, France)

Joaquín Tuculet (Sale Sharks, England)
 Benjamin Urdapilleta  (Harlequins, England)

Los Jaguares Squad for IRB Nations Cup

Juan Pablo Socino named in squad

Argentina´s A side, known as Los Jaguares, has been confirmed for the upcoming IRB Nations Cup to be played in Bucharest, Romania between June 8 and June 17. The tournament is a strategic part of the IRB´s development of global rugby and sees Los Jaguares and Italy A compete alongside four test teams - Portugal, Russia, Uruguay and hosts Romania. Of the four Romania is officially a Second Tier rugby nation while the three others are considered to be developing and all have the potential to be included in the Second Tier. All have played in Rugby World Cup´s and two of the four are expected to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015. 

The 26 man squad consists of players considered to be fringe players for Los Pumas but players who will not feature for the senior side in the June internationals. The vast majority of players are Argentine based with twelve players having played in the this seasons Vodacom Cup. Three players were playing for European clubs with the most interesting selection being that of Juan Pablo Socino who was named in the RFU Championship´s Dream Team as inside centre. Socino has returned to Argentina after requesting to be released from his contract with Nottingham in England´s second division. He had offers to play for other teams, most interestingly, Treviso in Italy. A move to Treviso was a part of the FIR looking to make use of Socino in the Italian national side for the teams troublesome position of flyhalf. Socino´s selection means he will now not ever be elligible to play for Italy. 

Los Jaguares are grouped with Portugal, Romania and Russia with the teams first match being against the Portuguese on June 08. The team will be targetting winning the tournament after having lost two matches last season against Portugal and Georgia. The champions in 2011 were the South African Kings while Georgia finished second and Los Jaguares were third. The Los Jaguares team is coached by Los Pampas XV headcoach Daniel Hourcade and assisted by Emiliano Bergamaschi. Los Jaguares Squad

1-Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal (Universitario-Tucumán)

2-Felipe Aranguren (CUBA-URBA)

3-Nicolás Azorin (Liceo Naval-URBA)

4-Nicolás Basile (Aurillac, France)

5-Marcos Bollini (Club Newman-URBA)

6-Martín Chiappesoni (Atlético del Rosario-URBA)

7-Matías Cortese (Gloucester, England)

8-Jerónimo De la Fuente (Duendes RC-Rosario)

9-Ezequiel Faralle (Huirapuca-Tucumán)

10-César Fruttero (Jockey Club de Villa María-Cordobesa)

11-Martín García Veiga (Buenos Aires C y RC-URBA)

12-Juan Gómez (Los Matreros-URBA)

13-Lisandro Gómez López (La Tablada-Cordobesa)

14-Santiago González Iglesias (Associación Alumni-URBA)

15-Fernando Luna (Córdoba Athletic-Cordobesa)

16-Benjamín Madero (San Isidro Club-URBA)

17-Matías Masera (Belgrano Athletic-URBA)

18-Santiago Méndez (San Isidro Club-URBA)

19-Ramiro Moyano (Lince RC-Tucumán)

20-Javier Ortega Desio (San Isidro Club-URBA)

21-Ignacio Pasman (Club Champagnat-URBA)

22-Francisco Piccinini (San Isidro Club-URBA)

23-Lucas Ponce (CUBA-URBA)

24-Javier Rojas (Universitario-Tucumán)

25-Juan Pablo Socino (Nottingham, England)

26-Roberto Tejerizo (Tucumán Lawn Tennis-Tucumán)

Argentina lose Leandro Cedaro to Italy

Cedaro in the Pro d2 for Mont de Marsan

A promising young Argentine player has been lost to Italy. In an interview with Argentine site scrum, 25 year old Leandro Cedaro said he had taken an offer from Italy to train with the side and will make his debut, playing for Italy A in next months IRB Nations Cup in Romania. Cedaro had also been in the sights of Santiago Phelan with the Pumas coach having been in contact with him this season. There even exists a chance for Cedaro to play against Argentina in June with Los Pumas taking on Italy in San Juan. His decision to play for Italy rather than his own country is likely to see him stand a better chance of playing against top opposition and continues the tradition of potential Pumas being snapped up by Italy. Cedaro has played over 50 games of rugby in France´s Pro d2 and will be staying there next season after signing for La Rochelle who lost a Semi Final vs Pau this past weekend.

Argentina has depth in the secondrow with Agen´s new signing, Esteban Lozada left out of the World Cup squad. Cedaro would, indeed, have it tough to earn a place in Argentina´s test team with the likes of Patricio Albacete, Manuel Carizza, Julio Farías Cabello and Tomás Vallejos Cinalli to feature in the Pumas secondrow this season. Italy, in contrast, are not so well served right now in the position with a player from Mogliano, Marco Fuser, (not part of the Rabo Direct Pro 12) being in the senior squad.

Argentina is a Tier One Regional Model

Scotland 15-6 Georgia, RWC 2011
Close game yet a rare fixture

In rugby international competition is divided into three categories. Known as tiers they are used to establish a basis for present and future ability, setting a platform for sides to know where they lie and just how much work they need to do to advance to a superior tier and also not fall down to an inferior tier. The IRB World Rankings has ninety-six nations but the top two tiers account for only the top eighteen sides. Of the sides considered as being the Top Two Tiers all except Georgia have competed at every Rugby World Cup since it was expanded from sixteen to twenty teams in 1999. The First Tier consists of ten sides - Australia, Argentina, England, France, Ireland, Italy,  New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. The same teams account for all places in the Six Nations Championship and The Rugby Championship. The Second Tier consists of eight sides - Canada, Fiji, Georgia, Japan, Romania, Samoa, Tonga and the United States of America. In New Zealand 2011 these eighteen sides were joined by Namibia and Russia. As expected, no Tier Two side made the Quarter Finals of the tournament and neither Namibia nor Russia won a match which goes to show the tiers´ are a good reflection of the global rugby order. 

Despite the tiers not being geographically organized at all the IRB and Rugby World Cup Limited operate on a regional structure which in the case of  Namibia, for instance, has seen the African nation qualify for the past four World Cup´s, despite never having come close to winning a World Cup match. Namibia, a Tier Three nation, has been Africa´s best for the past twelve years but has only participated at World Cup´s due to Africa being given a direct qualifying spot. This controversy highlights the failures of the global rugby authorities to create a fair system for all in that African Tier Three sides have a massive advantage over all Tier Three nations from all other regions - Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. While Namibia qualified after defeating no teams from Rugby World Cup 1999, 2003 or 2007 Russia qualified after defeating teams from each of these World Cup´s - Portugal, Romania and Spain. The Europeans happened to also have significantly higher placings in the IRB World Rankings than the sides Namibia played against. 

While Namibia has been the big winner in this, the biggest loser has been South America as it is the only continent which is not allocated World Cup qualification to the team which finishes first in qualification matches. The unjust system has the South American winner face the North American runner up with the winner of that qualifying for the World Cup as Americas 2. This ignores the Tier structure since North America has two sides from the second tier but South America doesn´t have any. Having Uruguay win the South American qualification series and then face Tier two sides while Namibia qualify automatically after only facing tier three sides is unjustifiable and simply odd. Seemingly, Uruguay´s two World Cup wins from seven matches has been entirely discredited. Curiously, the side that Uruguay defeated in Rugby World Cup 2003, Georgia, has gone on to now be a Tier Two side.

Chile vs Brazil, May 2012.
Argentina face both also in May 2012

Despite the IRB not doing good enough for the Americas, Argentina remains a regional leader. There is little to suggest that teams are closing the gap on Argentina. To the contrary, Los Pumas are a permanent tier one side that continues to match it against the best. Without its professional players, Argentina is still far too strong for the others in South America, as demonstrated yesterday with a 40-5 win over Uruguay. Such matches do little for Argentine rugby but are crucial to the growth of the likes of Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Argentina´s annual participation in the South American Championship (CONSUR A) gives potential Pumas of the future a chance but, more importantly, acts as a measuring stick for Argentina´s opponents, all of which are Tier Three rugby nations. Of the nine other Tier One sides no team plays in an annual  regional competition comparable to the South American Championship. There is no Oceania Cup involving Australia , New Zealand and the three Tier Two sides of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Nor is there an African Cup involving South Africa and other teams from the continent. Europe, similarly, has no competition featuring the Six Nations sides and the emerging nations. Last years World Cup saw Scotland defeating Georgia 15-6. The Tier One side failed to score a try. Yet there is no international competition between the sides at all and the match was, amazingly, the first ever between the two nations.

The reason for no regional competitions is not the differing abilities, if it were then World Cup´s would only feature Tier One sides. The First Tier simply have no interest in such matches taking place due to the financial costs involved. Aside from Argentina facing its South American counterparts in the CONSUR A tournament the only comparable example is Asia which has Japan (Tier Two) competiting in the Asian Five Nations which sees the Japanese face the next four best Asian sides - currently Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Japan is Asia´s only non-Tier Three rugby nation and has competed at every World Cup. When Japan host Rugby World Cup 2019 it will be representing Asia and Argentina stands out as a regional leader for similar reasons. The South American Championship is a key part of developing the global game and it further underlines what Argentina has to offer as a World Cup host.

USA vs Italy in Houston - Promo

BBVA Compass Stadium

International rugby is coming to Houston in June with the USA Eagles set to take on Italy on Saturday June 23 at the BBVA Compass Stadium. The state of the art stadium has only recently been completed. It is to be a rematch of the World Cup clash between the teams in Nelson in which the North Americans gave the highly rated opposition a good showing. Italy will play a three match international tour taking on all three of the Americas teams from Rugby World Cup 2011. The tour starts with a match in San Juan vs Argentina and then continues with a clash vs Canada in Toronto. The match in Houston will be the Europeans third and final test. The tour is ideal for the Italians who had a good Six Nations in which, despite only winning one of five matches, showed good progress and played a different style of rugby to that of past years. 

In preperation for the June 2012 match USA Rugby´s promotion of the match is well underway and the union´s officiail youtube page posted a video promo today on youtube. 

Canada at Rugby World Cup 2003

Canada vs Tonga, RWC 2011

Despite Canada dropping off from its level of competitiveness of the 1990´s, the North Americans were nonetheless able to push teams hard during the decade of 2000-2010. A lack of resources, the country´s size and Canada´s amateur status worked against the country on the rugby field but Canada was still able to prove its worth as a country that is indispensible to the Rugby World Cup. Canada is a proud rugby country with a record, on average, of at least one win from every World Cup. The one exception was when Canada drew with Japan in Bordeaux as part of Rugby World Cup 2007. On that occassion Japan sneaked home with a last minute try and drew with the conversion. Canada made up for it by drawing in Napier as part of Rugby World Cup 2011, in the teams third match after Canada had defeated Tonga and pushed France hard in the previous two matches.

Canada vs Tonga, RWC 2003

Canada also performed well at Rugby World Cup 2003. The North Americans gave Wales a good first half in the teams first match but were overwhelmed by tournament favorites, New Zealand in the second match. Canada´s final two matches were vs Italy and Tonga. Italy had joined the Five Nations, making it the Six Naions in 2000 and had already shown its worth by defeating both Scotland and Wales. The Italians played badly in losing to the All Blacks first up and then scored an impressive 36-12 win over Tonga. Canada were therefore not favored to give Italy much of a contest. It did not transpire this way, however and Canada collected a bonus point in losing 19-14. In Canada´s final match it exited the tournament with a good win,    defeating Tonga 24-7.  

Italy vs Tonga 2003

Rabo Direct Pro 12 - Round 18 Wrap

Edinburgh 15-29 Newport-Gwent Dragons

Edinburgh continue to look like anything other than a Heineken Cup Quarter Finalists, let alone a team hosting a Quarter Final. the Scottish side again had a poor showing in the Pro 12 with Wales´ weakest side having few problmes in completing a good win.Ulises Gamboa was on the bnech for the Scot´s but Esteban Lozada was left out of the match day team.

Leinster 22-23 Ospreys

Top of the table Leinster lost for the first time in 21 matches with the up-and-down Ospreys getting a good win to stay in the Top Four. It was the come back match for Brian O´Driscoll. Former USA age grade player, Hanno Dirksen again started on the right wing for the Welsh region while Canada´s Chauncey O´Toole was left out of the team.

Glasgow Warriors 29-6 Aironi

Another side firmly in the Top Four is Scotland´s Glasgow Warriors who completed an easy win over Italian side, Aironi also on Friday. The USA´s Tommy Seymour scored the first try of the match as he played on the wing for Glasgow. Aironi´s points came from the boot of the Argentine-Italian, Luciano Orquera. Both sides had other players from the Americas with Federico Martín Aramburu playing 62 minutes at inside centre and Argentine-Italian frontrower, Matías Agüero entering from the bench for Aironi.

Benetton Treviso 23-37 Ulster

a late minute try from Ulster robbed Benneton Treviso of another famous victory. The Italians had been leading by 10 points with as many minutes remaining after Argentine flyhalf, Alberto di Bernardo went over for a try in the 29th minute to make it 23-13. But it was to be the luck of the Irish as one last change gave Ulster the win. The Argentine-Italian, Gonzalo García played the full match while three other players from Argentina came on from the bench in the form of Diego Vidal, Ignacio Fernández Rouyet and Gonzalo Padro.

Cardiff Blues 14-26 Scarlets

After letting a great opportunity go begging last weekend vs the Newport-Gwent Dragons, the Cardiff Blues let another go, this time vs the Scarlets. Cardiff are now sitting in seventh position six points outside of the play-off´s zone while both Ulster and the Scarlets are one point behind Glasgow and three behind the Ospreys. 

Connacht 16-20 Munster

The away win sees Irish powerhouses, Munster, move into second position in the standings while Connacht continue to have no chance of advancing at all. Even with a virtual B team Munster was still too strong. The USA born Irish interantional flyhalf,. Ronan O´Gara was amongst the players rested for the encounter.

Leinster vs Ospreys


Rabo Direct Pro 12 Standings
1 Leinster 64
2 Munster 56
3 Ospreys 53
4 Glasgow 51
______________
5 Ulster 50
6 Scarlets 50
7 Cardiff 45
8 Dragons 33
9 Treviso 30
10 Connacht 25
11 Edinburgh 23
12 Aironi 19

IRB World Rankings June Implications

Canada celebrate beating Tonga. Could Canada make the Top Ten?

Following the completion of Europe´s premier international competition, the Six Nations the IRB World Rankings of its participants tell a tale of two cities. There is a clear split between the top four and the bottom two. Champions Wales were undefeated and deserved the title but the teams wins over England and France were Ireland were by small margins and all could have been loses. Results against Italy and Scotland were clearer with bigger wins not only from Wales but from the other three teams. It is a continuation of a long term trend in which Scotland have been falling behind while Ireland and Wales have been eliminating the gap between themselves and that of England and Scotland. Italy, in contrast to Scotland, have been improving and the evidence on the international stage as well as within Italian rugby seems to underline the progress of the sport in the country. Scotland, like Italy, are seemingly now a far different prospect at home than in away matches. While the other four are able to perform well home and away.

Could the USA topple Italy in 2012?

The IRB World Rankings have neither Italy nor Scotland in the World´s Top Ten. Both teams are in fact ranked much closer to Canada than they are to Argentina. Canada ranked 13th in the world with Italy and Scotland in 11th and 12th. The points difference sees Canada less than one point behind Scotland and less than two behind Italy. Scotland are more than six points behind Argentina. The European team ranked closed to both Italy and Scotland (besides eachother) is not a Six Nations participant, but rather, Georgia. Similar to Argentina entering The Rugby Championship, Georgia needs to be integrated into the Six Nations. One thing that the current shape of the World Rankings does show is that the June 2012 tours are set up well with Italy to play Argentina in San Juan, the USA in Houston and Canada in Toronto. Scotland will face Australia, Fiji and Samoa. But these tours are not common, rather a rare thing. Scotland will also host Tonga in November, giving it a good chance of rising in rankings. 

Rupeni Caucau vs Scotland in 2003

Should Scotland end the year outside of the Top Ten then Georgia´s case for a place in the Six Nations would be greatly amplified. The matches against Tier Two sides will enable them to pick up IRB Rankings points, especially because the teams they will face are ranked closely. The lowest ranked side that Scotland will face is Fiji in 17th, the same team that ran riot vs the Scot´s at Rugby World Cup 2003 with Rupeni Caucau breaking the line at will. It took the boot of Chris Paterson to rescue Scotland that day. He has now gone to retirement, however, and Scotland´s goalkicking has suffered. Fiji and Samoa will be no easy games for the Scot´s and it could see the Scot´s appear more like a Tier Two than a Tier One side. Italy, in contrast,  have a tough first match in San Juan and then head north to Toronto and Houston. If Italy´s ambition is to be ranked as highly as possible than Jacques Brunel may well opt to field his strongest team in North America, especially given the schedule of facing Canada on Friday evening, having played Argentina on the previous Saturday some 8,380KM away. 

Both Canada and the USA will also play host to Georgia. Any slip ups from either Scotland or Italy would therefore sink the sides lower than their present rankings. Should Canada replicate the form it showed at Rugby World Cup 2011 it could well win all four tests this June. Such a scenario would see the Canadians move towards the Top Ten and if Scotland fail to win in Fiji and Samoa then Canada could be ranked even higher. The USA´s position of 17th could also change greatly. Should the USA Eagles have success in June then it will rise and further put into dispute the IRB´s distribution of qualification places for Rugby World Cup 2015. The USA is ranked behind all of its opponents for the June internationals which means that wins will be more significant for the Eagles than the Canadians. Curiously, the USA is ranked closer to Chile than it is to Canada. This is a sign of the lack of matches the USA has against lower ranked sides. The opposite is true of Namibia, which explains the Africans position in World Rankings.

The World´s Top 25 also features five countries from the Americas. In other words the Americas make up for 20% of the World´s top 25 teams. Three come from South America and two from North America. South America is the only region to not have automatic qualification granted to the winner of its phase of World Cup qualification. Not only does it go against performances at World Cup´s but it also goes against World Rankings. Rather than solving the issue of African participants, other than South Africa struggling, the IRB opted to continue giving Africa an automatic place with Africa one going directly to in Rugby World Cup 2015 while South America 1 will have to face North America 1 and the loser enter repercharge. The IRB, whether intentional or not, continues to fail to address its special treatment of gifting Africa 1 a place at World Cups. Unlike other regions, it is not a system based on merit. Japan, for instance, are clearly a team who should always be at World Cup´s despite not having won many matches. Both the USA and Canada have won more as has Uruguay yet Namibia has played 24 for zero wins, sits behind Spain in World Rankings and does not have a good record against sides from outside of Africa. 

Current IRB World Rankings

1(1)	New Zealand	91.43
2(2)	Australia	87.99
3(3)	South Africa	84.34
4(4)	England	83.62
5(5)	Wales	83.32
6(6)	France	81.91
7(8)	Argentina	80.28
8(7)	Ireland	79.85
9(9)	Tonga	76.63
10(10)	Samoa	75.81
11(12)	Italy	74.17
12(11)	Scotland	73.86
13(13)	Canada	72.92
14(14)	Japan	70.45
15(15)	Georgia	70.26
16(16)	Fiji	68.78
17(17)	United States	65.63
18(18)	Romania	63.81
19(19)	Spain	62.57
20(20)	Namibia	61.24
21(21)	Uruguay	60.47
22(22)	Russia	60.12
23(23)	Chile	59.52
24(25)	Belgium	58.88
25(24)	Portugal	57.75

For a complete list of IRB World Rankings click here.