Pumas farewell most-capped prop, draft in rookie 10 for Wallabies

Nicolas Roger has been called in to Felipe Contepomi’s 32-man Pumas squad for their two-Test tour of Australia, replacing the in-form Tomas Albornoz, who will miss the tour with a dislocated finger.

Albornoz was replaced just 13 minutes into Argentina’s historic win over the All Blacks at the weekend, with Santiago Carreras coming into the match and nailing five shots at goal to keep his team on the path to victory.

Roger has three Test matches to his name, all of which came in Argentina’s July series against England and Uruguay, earning his first start in the latter fixture.

He joins eight-Test prop Ignacio Calles as newcomers, with the Pau front-rower entering the fray after the retirement of Argentina’s most-capped prop of all time, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro. Tetaz Chaparro signed off on a 15-year international career with his nation’s first home win over the All Blacks.

Los Pumas enter round three of the Rugby Championship in fourth place, but just two competition points behind the All Blacks. All four teams have one win and a loss to their names.

“We closed out the year at home with a great win against the All Blacks, which gives us a lot of energy for the challenging tour ahead,” head coach Felipe Contepomi said upon naming the squad on Tuesday.

As the coach alluded to, Los Pumas now have four Tests away from home to close out the Rugby Championship, with the final round of the tournament seeing them play the Springboks at Allianz Stadium Twickenham.

“It’s important that over the next five weeks away from home, we can continue to build as a team and grow day by day.

“We are very grateful for the support we’ve received over these past few weeks in Argentina and are confident we’ll find many fans cheering us on in Australia.”

Pumas squad for Australia tour

Forwards: Ignacio Calles, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Santiago Grondona, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Franco Molina, Julian Montoya, Joaquin Oviedo, Lucas Paulos, Guido Petti, Tomas Rapetti, Pedro Rubiolo, Ignacio Ruiz, Joel Sclavi, Mayco Vivas, Boris Wenger.

Backs: Simon Benitez Cruz, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Carreras, Santiago Chocobares, Lucio Cinti, Bautista Delguy, Benjamin Elizalde, Gonzalo Garcia, Rodrigo Isgro, Juan Cruz Mallia, Ignacio Mendy, Agustin Moyano, Justo Piccardo, Geronimo Prisciantelli, Nicolas Roger