Chile 6-59 Argentina

Facundo Barrea scored a double

Argentina is South American Champion after having defeated Chile 59-6 in Santiago on Saturday. The win was Los Pumas´ third of the tournament having already defeated both Uruguay and Brazil in the first two rounds. Chile finished third after having defeated Brazil but having lost by a single point in an epic 27-26 point loss vs Los Teros on Wednesday. In winning, Argentina did so with a team that is far from what will face Tier One opposition this year with captain Leo Senatore being the only player to have played at Rugby World Cup 2011. He led the team in all three matches, playing a whopping three tests in just six days. 

The win saw Argentina scoring eight tries too zero with right winger Facundo Barrea and fullback Román Miralles both scoring two tries each while outside centre Santiago Craig, secondrower Benjamín Macome, replacement winger Manuel Montero and inside centre Matías Orlando all scored one try each. Valentín Cruz had a good day with the boot as he landed seven conversions.

Despite being an international match counting for IRB World Rankings and being considered exactly the same as a full strength game between France and England neither side could be said to be at full strength. Los Condores were close to it but was missing some players based abroad. Los Pumas, however, was a team made up entirely of Argentine based players. The South American Championship was used as a breeding ground for players with the future in mind. International caps were handed out to many from Los Pampas XV who would otherwise not play for their country.

Chile: 1 Luka Salamunic, 2 Sebastián Del Solar, 3 Sergio de la Fuente, 4 Nelson Calderón, 5 Salomón Diaz, 6 Rodrigo Tobar (Captain), 7 Rolando Pellerano, 8 Manuel Dagnino; 9 Alonso Oliver, 10 Benjamin Pizarro, 11 Iñaki Barturen, 12 Francisco De la Fuente, 13 Germán Herrera, 14 Francisco Neira, 15 Javier Valderrama.

Argentina: 1 Roberto Tejerizo, 2 Bruno Postiglioni, 3 Gastón Cortéz, 4 Santiago Guzmán, 5 Benjamín Macome, 6 Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal, 7 Rodrigo Bruno, 8 Leonardo Senatore (Captain), 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Valentín Cruz; 11 Diego Palma, 12 Matías Orlando, 13 Santiago Craig, 14 Facundo Barrea, 15 Román Miralles.

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)

Argentina makes nine changes to take on Brazil

Tomás Cubelli to play scrumhalf vs Brazil

After just a three day turn-around both the second round of the 2012 South American Championship will be played tomorrow, Wednesday in Santiago, Chile. The tournament favorites, Argentina, got a good 40-5 win on Sunday againast Uruguay and is confidently going about its business with nine changes having been made to the team to face Brazil in the second round. The changes will see Ignacio Sáenz Lancuba, Germán Aráoz, César Fruttero, Nicolás Azzorin, Rodrigo Bruno, Tomás Cubelli, Stéfano Ambrosio, Santiago Craig and Facundo Barrea all starting. The team will be led again by Leonardo Senatore who is the only player to have played professional rugby this season.

The match is to be the first between the die-hard soccer rivals in almost twenty years as the last time Argentina faced Brazil in test rugby was back in 1993. On that occassion Argentina won the match 114-3. The result is not expected to be so one sided this time around, however, but if Brazil can restrict Los Pumas to a difference of 50 points it will be a significant achievement. The closest match in history between the teams saw Argentina winning 30-8 in São Paulo in 1964. Argentina has won all eleven matches between the sides.

Argentina

1 Ignacio Sáenz Lancuba

2 Martín García Veiga

3 Germán Aráoz

4 César Fruttero

5 Nicolás Azzorin

6 Javier Ortega Desio

7 Rodrigo Bruno

8 Leonardo Senatore (Captain)

9 Tomás Cubelli

10 Stéfano Ambrosio

11 Manuel Montero

12 Javier Rojas

13 Santiago Craig

14 Facundo Barrea

15 Ramiro Moyano

Reserves: 16 Roberto Tejerizo, 17 Bruno Postiglioni, 18 Santiago Guzmán, 19 Benjamín Macome, 20 Martín Landajo, 21 Valentín Cruz, 22 Matías Orlando.

Brazil is yet to confirm its lineup for the match.

Argentina 40-5 Uruguay

Los Pumas score vs Los Teros

Argentina has won its first test match of the year by defeating neighbours Uruguay by a scoreline of 40-5 at the CARR in Santiago del Chile earlier afternoon. The match was the first both both Los Pumas and Los Teros in the 2012 South American Championship, also known as the CONSUR A.Argentina won the contest by scoring six tries to one but have little time to celebrate as Argentina will take on Wednesday. Brazil are currently battling it out with the host nation of the 2012 event, Chile in the second of today´s two matches. The structure of the event is such that all four teams play their matches on the same days which means that Uruguay vs Chile will also be played on Wednesday. The match is likely to go far to determine who finished second in the tournament with Argentina likely to win its two remaining matches by bigger scores. 

Neither Argentina nor Uruguay were at full strength for their match today but Argentina were significantly depleted with no European professional players at all in the side. Former Toulon backrower, Leonardo Senatore was the only player to have played his rugby in Europe this season but he left to join Los Pampas XV for the teams final matches in the Vodacom Cup. Five of the six tries were scored by players from the Vodacom Cup with Ramiro Moyano scoring a double and a youngster who would very well make the senior Pumas squad, Manuel Montero, also getting a try. Uruguay´s try was scored by winger Santiago Arocena.

Upcoming Fixtures

Wednesday Argentina vs Brazil

Wednesday Chile vs Uruguay

Saturday Uruguay vs Brazil
Saturday Chile vs Argentina

Source: UARE

Leo Senatore to captain first Pumas test of 2012

Los Pumas World Cup backrower, Leo Senatore has been given the honor of captaining Argentina in its first test of the year as Los Pumas take on Uruguay in Santiago, Chile on Sunday. In what is to only be his fifth international appearance, the man from Rosario will lead a team packed with players from the Los Pampas XV side which reached the Quarter Finals of South Africa´s Vodacom Cup. Such is the experimentation of the squad that Senatore is the only player who played in last years Rugby World Cup to be in the team. Others to have played in New Zealand who are a part of Los Pampas XV have been rested and are not a part of the 26 man squad for the South American Championship in which Argentina will also face Brazil and Chile over the next week.

Having just turned 28, Senatore is a player to keep an eye on in 2012 as Argentina are to have three home tests in June followed by home and away fixtures vs Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in The Rugby Championship and then a three test tour to Europe in November. Senatore, having returned from a stint in the Top 14 with Toulon is widely expected to be in Argentina´s starting XV to face Tier One opposition. He is likely to join Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and Juan Manuel Leguizamón in forming the first choice backrow. 

Besides Senatore the other players who could well play in the June internationals are winger Manuel Montero, scrumhalf Martín Landajo and secondrower Santiago Guzmán. replacements Bruno Postiglioni and Tomás Cubelli are also players to watch out for. 

Argentina

1- Roberto Tejerizo

2- Martín García Veiga

3- Gastón Cortéz

4- Santiago Guzmán

5- Benjamín Macome

6- Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal

7- Javier Ortega Desio

8- Leonardo Senatore (captain)

9- Martín Landajo

10- Valentín Cruz

11- Manuel Montero

12- Javier Rojas

13- Matías Orlando

14- Diego Palma

15- Ramiro Moyano

Reserves:

16- Ignacio Saenz Lancuba

17- Bruno Postiglioni

18- César Fruttero

19- Nicolás Azzorin

20- Tomás Cubelli

21- Stéfano Ambrosio

22- Facundo Barrea

Leonardo Senatore returns for Toulon

Leonardo Senatore

Leonardo Senatore will return to Toulon´s lineup for Saturday´s match vs Brive at the Stade Amédée-Domenech. He announced his delight at returning for the third placed Top 14 Orange club on twitter and hopes to face-off against his Pumas teammate, Agustín Figuerola. The Argentine backrower has been on the sidelines for Toulon due to the return of captain, Joe van Niekerk from injury. His match vs Brive has been rumoured, in French sources, as being his last due to the complettion of the rehabilitation process of Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe who has been on the sidelines all season after seriously injurying his knee vs Scotland in September.

Toulon will not be resigning Senatore for next season and the Pumas backrower´s contract as a meical joker could come to an end following this weekends match vs Brive. Should this, indeed, be Senatore´s final match then he will be flown to South Africa to link up with Los Pampas XV. Despite not being of the same callibre, more game time in the Vodacom Cup would be to the advantage of Senatore and Los Pumas as the backrower is a certainty to feature in the June internationals vs Italy and France.

The Rugby Championship Players to Watch - Leonardo Senatore

It is not often that a player can break clear from the back of a scrum to get passed two All Blacks backrowers,  let alone the pair of captain Richie McCaw and Crusaders teammate Kieran Read but this is what happened to put the name of Leonardo Senatore on the lips of commentators world wide in the World Cup Quarter Final clash at Eden Park last year. Senatore´s run set up the first try of the Quarter Final, and one of the best tries from the knock-out stages of the tournament. It also sent a reminder to the world of the force of Argentine rugby. When Felipe Contepomi slotted the conversion of the try scored by Julio Farías, the tournament favorites were behind on the scoreboard and the crowd was silenced - for the first time in the tournament the All Blacks had a real game on their hands. 

Senatore being tackled vs Georgia

The story of Senatore´s beautiful breakout run is more remarkable than just because of who the opposition were. Senatore had not been groomed as a player likely to feature at Rugby World Cup 2011. He had been a product of the post 2007 era of rebuilding but had been unable to secure a place in the team, or greater squad for Argentina´s home internationals in June and European tours in November from 2008-2010. He made his international debut in May 2008 vs Uruguay and played his second test vs Chile in November of the same year. His next test would come almost three years latter, vs Georgia in Palmerston North for Argentina´s final pool match of the World Cup. One week latter he was starting a World Cup Quarter Final. 

Playing for Los Pampas XV

His selection for Los Pumas in 2011 came as a result of his good form for Los Jaguares in the years from 2008-2011 and his form in the Vodacom Cup winning Los Pampas XV in 2011. Argentina had its share of injuries during this period but Senatore was never the player to get the call up for Los Pumas. Instead it was Alejandro Abadie, Alejandro Campos, Genario Fessia, Alvaro Galindo and Tomás Leonardi joining Juan Manuel Leguizamón and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe in the backrow from 2008-2010. Despite having been a key player for Los Jaguares it was the 2011 Vodacom Cup that saw his rise to be a favored Pumas backrow option. When Santiago Phelan named Senatore in his World Cup squad it was evident that he was picked specifically as cover for Fernández Lobbe. The inital squad featured six backrowers - Campos, Farías, Fernández Lobbe, Galindo, Leguizamón and Senatore. Two were selected per position with Campos and Farías for 6, Galindo and Leguizamón for 7 and Fernández Lobbe and Senatore for 8. When Fernández Lobbe left the field vs Scotland with a serious knee injury, Senatore´s chance had come. Or had it? Argentina were in a battle to stay in the World Cup and Senatore was on the sidelines watching. Following the try of the World Cup, Senatore would get his chance one week latter. He started vs Georgia and following Argentina´s win the team went on to face New Zealand with Senatore picked at the base of the scrum. 

Toulon signing

Several weeks latter, Senatore was on a plane to France and in talks to play as a medical joker replacement for Fernández Lobbe at Toulon. Upon his arrival, Senatore quickly found his way into Toulon teamsheets and had a good first half in the current French season. Since the return of Joe van Niekerk from injury things have changed for Senatore however, and the club is set to stick to the temporary status of his medical joker contract. Whether he stays in Europe or returns to Argentina is unknown but what is certain is that he was able to have a successful stint with Toulon and did score a good try in the process. Should he return to Argentina he will certainly be signed on a permanent contract as one of the UAR Senior´s. His international future is also not in question with Senatore certain to play for his country in 2012 and likely to be in the starting XV. He could well force an adjustment to the Pumas backrow with Fernández Lobbe moving to 6. 

Week One: Juan Manuel Leguizamón

Week Two: Lucas González Amorosino

Week Three: Marcelo Bosch

Week Four: Agustín Creevy

Week Five: Juan Martín Hernández 
Week Six: Martín Bustos Moyano
Week Seven: Leonardo Senatore

Week Eight: Rodrigo Roncero