Dragons RFC scrum half Gonzalo Bertranou has been named in Argentina’s squad as they prepare for the upcoming Rugby Championship and Rugby World Cup.
Head coach Michael Cheika has named a 48-man training group. Argentina’s next game is on July 8 when they open their Rugby Championship campaign at home to New Zealand, and as well as Los Pumas’ upcoming internationals there are also four games for an ‘Argentina XV’ against Namibia, Uruguay and Chile (twice).
ARGENTINA SQUAD
Loose-head: Ignacio Calles (Pau), Thomas Gallo (Benneton), Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (Benetton), Marco Vivas (Gloucester).
Hooker: Facundo Bosch (Bayonne), Agustín Creevy (London Irish), Julián Montoya (Leicester Tigers), Santiago Socino (Gloucester), Ignacio Ruiz (London Irish)
Tight-head: Eduardo Bello (Newcastle Falcons), Francisco Gómez Kodela (Lyon), Santiago Medrano (Western Force), Joel Sclavi (La Rochelle), Lucio Sordoni (Glasgow Warriors)
Lock: Matías Alemanno (Gloucester), Tomás Lavanini (Clermont), Guido Petti (Bordeaux), Lucas Paulos (Bayonne)
Flanker: Juan Martín González (London Irish), Santiago Grondona (Pau), Facundo Isa (Toulon), Marcos Kremer (Clermont), Pedro Rubiolo (Newcastle Falcons).
No.8: Rodrigo Bruni (Bayonne), Pablo Matera (Honda Heat), Joaquín Oviedo (Perpignan)
Scrum-half: Lautaro Bazán Vélez (Rovigo), Gonzalo Bertranou (Dragons), Tomás Cubelli (Biarritz), Gonzalo García (Zebre)
Fly-half: Tomás Albornoz (Benetton), Santiago Carreras (Gloucester), Nicolás Sánchez (Brive)
Centre: Santiago Chocobares (Toulouse), Lucio Cinti (London Irish), Luciano González (Los Pumas 7s), Jerónimo de la Fuente (Perpignan) Matías Moroni (Newcastle Falcons), Matías Orlando (Newcastle Falcons)
Wing: Emiliano Boffelli (Edinburgh), Sebastián Cancelliere (Glasgow Warriors), Mateo Carreras (Newcastle Falcons), Santiago Cordero (Connacht), Bautista Delguy (Clermont), Juan Imhoff (Racing 92), Rodrigo Isgró (Los Pumas 7s)
Full-back: Martín Bogado (Highlanders), Juan Cruz Mallía (Toulouse)
ARGENTINA FIXTURES:
- July 8: Argentina v New Zealand
- July 15: Australia v Argentina
- July 29: South Africa v Argentina
- July 29: Argentina XV v Namibia
- August 5: Chile v Argentina XV
- August 5: Argentina v South Africa
- August 19: Uruguay v Argentina XV
- August 26: Spain v Argentina
- August 26: Chile v Argentina XV
