Contepomi made his first call as coach of Los Pumas and excluded 10 of those who played in the 2023 World Cup

Still without official presentation as head coach The Pumas, Filippo Contepomi has made his first call-up official for the Puma Camp in London, concentration scheduled for 11, 12 and 13 March, four months before the start of the official competition which will mark the starting point of his leadership in the Argentine rugby team.

Even if it is about the continuity of the Australian’s work Michael Cheikawho has shaped the staff he will now head and where he will continue Andrés Bordoy AND Juan Martin Fernández Lobbe as assistants the last word belongs to Contepomi.

For 24 of the 31 called up, it will be the meeting after the last match of the World Cup France 2023the defeat against England inside Stadium France for third place. Of the seven who did not participate in the championship, none are unknown as they had been part of the group and had been excluded, mainly due to injuries.

With the exception of Franco Molinacaptain of the franchise Doges XV, the rest of the squad plays in different teams in the European leagues. This explains, at least in part, the absence of Pablo Matera AND Nicola Sanchezwho play in the Japanese league.

In addition to Matera and Sánchez, there are the other absentees from the World Cup Martin Bogadothe historian and record holder Augustine Crevy, Tommaso Cubelli, Francisco Gómez Kodela -the only one who publicly renounced the team-, Juan Imhoff, Facundo Isa, Rodrigo IsgroAND Luca Paoloarriving after the injury that took the former Los Pumas captain out of France 2023.

Those who will be in London and watching the World Cup on TV are Thomas Albornoz, Santiago Cordero, Baptist Delguy, Franco Molina, Lucio Sordoni, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro AND Santiago Grondona. Of that squad, the last two were unavailable due to injury, while Sordoni joined the team as a possible replacement, but was also unavailable.

Of the Pumas in the World Cup, 24 were called up again: Mattia Alemanno, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Eduardo Bello, Gonzalo Bertranou, Emiliano Boffelli, Rodrigo Bruni, Matteo Carreras AND Santiago Carreras.

They complete the payroll Santiago Chocobar, Lucio Cinti, Girolamo De La Fuente, Thomas Gallo, Juan Martin González, Marcos Kremer, Tommaso Lavanini, Juan Cruz Mallia, Giuliano Montoya, Mattia Moroni, Joaquin Oviedo, Guido Petti, Pedro Rubiolo, Ignacio Ruiz, Gioele Sclavi AND Mayco Vivas.

“This meeting is an excellent opportunity to see each other again, after what has been an intense year. Although the monitoring and contact with the players has never stopped, the intention is to get together again to review everything that has been done so far in the last two years, see where we are going and how we can improve for the new World Cup cycle. … that begins”, indicated Contepomi on the website of the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR).

The 2024 calendar has a dozen commitments scheduled for Los Pumas. The first will be on July 6th in Argentina, to be faced France and inaugurate the international window which will be completed with a second duel against Les Bleus and the remaining match with a rival not yet confirmed, but corresponding to the Tier 2 segment.

With that base of 31 players and perhaps even more called up, Contepomi will face his first coach Rugby Championshipwith a program from 10 August to 28 September, in an edition that will feature the six matches – the last World Cup was just three – that they will face at home twice Australia and one to South Africa.

The two matches against All black it will be in New Zealand and the rest ahead Springbok, even as a visitor. The end of the year will be determined by the tour that Los Pumas will take Italy, Ireland AND France with test matches scheduled for November 9, 16 and 23.