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Los Pumas captain Julian Montoya one of five stars to return for Wallabies tests
By AAP
Argentina have included captain Julian Montoya and the first-choice halfback pairing of Tomas Cubelli and Nicolas Sanchez in their 34-man squad for the two Rugby Championship matches against Australia.
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Coach Michael Cheika, the former Wallabies coach, has also brought back Santiago Cordero and Benjamin Urdapilleta, who were among those injured in the three-test series against Scotland.
Argentina narrowly clinched the series last Saturday in a dramatic last-gasp victory at Santiago del Estero.
Montoya had missed the decisive match with a bad back while Cubelli and Sanchez both suffered muscle tears in the first test — Cubelli in the warm-up before kick-off and Sanchez early on in the game at San Salvador de Jujuy on July 2 – that ruled them out of the rest of the series.
There are returns to the squad for tighthead prop Santiago Medrano, loose forward Joaquin Oviedo and centre Lucas Mensa, while second rower Guido Petti and winger Bautista Delguy are being rested for later clashes in the southern hemisphere championship against New Zealand and South Africa.
Argentina host Australia in Mendoza on August 6, and in San Juan on August 13.
Los Pumas Rugby Championship squad
Forwards: Matias Alemanno (Gloucester), Rodrigo Bruni (Brive), Agustin Creevy (London Irish), Thomas Gallo (Benetton Treviso), Francisco Gomez Kodela (Lyon OU), Juan Martin Gonzalez (London Irish), Santiago Grondona (Exeter Chiefs), Facundo Isa (Toulon), Marcos Kremer (Stade Francais), Tomas Lavanini (Clermont Auvergne), Pablo Matera (unattached), Julian Montoya (Leicester Tigers), Santiago Medrano (Worcester Warriors), Joaquin Oviedo (Perpignan), Lucas Paulos (Brive), Ignacio Ruiz (Jaguares XV), Joel Sclavi (La Rochelle), Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (Benetton Treviso), Mayco Vivas (Jaguares XV)
Backs: Lautaro Bazan Velez (Rovigo), Gonzalo Bertranou (Dragons), Emiliano Boffelli (Edinburgh), Santiago Carreras (Gloucester), Lucio Cinti (London Irish), Santiago Cordero (Bordeaux Begles), Tomas Cubelli (Biarritz), Jeronimo de la Fuente (Perpignan), Juan Imhoff (Racing 92), Juan Cruz Mallía (Toulouse), Lucas Mensa (Mont-de-Marsan), Matias Moroni (Leicester Tigers), Matias Orlando (Newcastle Falcons), Nicolas Sanchez (Stade Francais), Benjamin Urdapilleta (Castres).
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Hamish I think in Rugby the international game is king and will always be the case. However I think in NZ we don't have the balance right. As you say the total focus has been on the All Blacks and not enough attention has been put on Super Rugby and how to enhance that. They have seen it as a high performance tool to service the AB's and have not valued it as a competition in it's own right. However I think the current board have a different view and moving in the right direction. Having created an independent board to look solely after the competition is definitely a step in the right direction. I see the growing of the Super comp as the number one priority for NZ and Aus.
Go to commentsLike Benjie, completely mismanaged. If hed gone to the Chiefs or Saders theyd have had him on the wing or FB and hed have succeeded. If SBW had started with the Blues hed have failed too.
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