It means there will be only three players in the tour party who will have to join Ledesma and his fellow coaches, Juan Fernández Lobbe and the brothers Nicolás and Juan Fernández Miranda, in quarantining for 10 days on arrival in the UK.
The Pumas were due to host Wales this summer, but the global pandemic put paid to that. Instead, they are heading to the Welsh capital to play against Wales at Principality Stadium on 10 and 17 July.
Dragons scrum half Gonzalo Bertranou is the only Welsh-based player in the squad and loosehead prop Federico Wegrzyn is the only uncapped player in the party. Leicester Tigers hooker Julien Montoya has been named as captain.
“It was with joy and pride I gave the captaincy to Julián Montoya. I’ve witnessed his growth as a player and as a leader and he has forged a strong bond with our former skipper, Pablo Matera,” said head coach Mario Ledesma.
“We have a bit of everything in our squad – experienced players, others confirmed and others that we prefer to continue developing. The 2023 World Cup in France is in the distance, but in a pandemic it looks far away.
“We have a few days to prepare for the matches to try to play our best rugby, but with players coming from all hemispheres, having had different preparations, it isn’t going to be easy. We will have to take that into consideration and see how we can prepare for the Rugby Championship.
“Wales showed at the 2019 World Cup that they have a large squad and that their performance doesn’t suffer when you take two or three players out of their team.”
There are 10 of the Jaguares starting XV from the 2019 Super Rugby final, while the complete starting XV that notched the first win over New Zealand last November in the Rugby Championship is included.
All the Pumas’ points in their never-to-be-forgotten 25-15 win came from veteran outside half Nicolas Sanchez, who is one of two survivors from the last time Argentina beat Wales. That was in Cardiff in 2012, when Sanchez kicked 13 points and the other survivor in the 2021 squad, the Racing 92 wing Juan Imhoff, scored one of his side’s two tries.
Argentina Squad to play Wales
Backs
: Gonzalo Bertranou (Dragons), Emiliano Boffelli (Racing 92), Santiago Carreras (Gloucester), Santiago Chocobares (Toulouse), Santiago Cordero (Bordeaux-Begles), Tomas Cubeli (Western Force), Jerónimo de la Fuente (Perpignan), Bautista Delguy (Bordeaux-Bègles), Felipe Ezcurra (Jaguares XV), Juan Imhoff (Racing 92), Sunday Miotti (Western Force), Nicola Sanchez (Stade Francais Paris), Matias Moroni (Leicester Tigers), Matias Orlando (Newcastle Falcons)
Forwards: Matias Alemanno (Gloucester), Facudo Bosch (La Rochelle), Rodrigo Bruni (Vannes), Facundo Gigena (London Irish), Francisco Gorrissen (Jaguares XV), Francisco Gómez Kodela (Lyon), Facundo Isa (Toulon), Marcos Kremer (Stade Français Paris), Tomas Lavanini (Leicester Tigers), Tomas Lezana (Western Force), Pablo Matera (Stade Français Paris), Santiago Medrano (Western Force), Julian Montoya (Leicester Tigers, captain), Guido Petti (Bordeaux-Bègles), Enrique Pieretto (Glasgow Warriors), Santiago Socino (Gloucester), Nahuel Chaparro ( Bristol Bears), Federico Wegrzyn (Jaguares XV)
