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Argentina head into autumn series without Pablo Matera after ban

Juan Martín González and Pablo Matera of Argentina look on during The Rugby Championship match between New Zealand All Blacks and Argentina at Eden Park on August 17, 2024 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

Argentina will be without flanker Pablo Matera for their opening match of the autumn against Italy after he received a suspension for his red card against South Africa in The Rugby Championship.

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The former Pumas captain was dismissed by referee Ben O’Keeffe after 56 minutes of the round six clash in this year’s Championship for a dangerous clearout of Springbok Vincent Koch.

SANZAAR have since upheld the red card decision, and handed the flanker a two-week suspension, although he will only miss one fixture.

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The 31-year-old will miss the encounter at the Stadio Friuli in Udine against the Azzurri, but will be available again from November 10.

Pumas head coach Felipe Contepomi will therefore have one of his talismans for clashes against world number one Ireland and France.

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“The player made contact without binding on to another player in the ruck and striking an opponent’s head with their shoulder at speed,” a statement SANZAAR said.

“These actions are deemed to constitute ‘foul play’ as per the new directive, thereby warranting a two-week suspension.

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“Therefore, the player is suspended up to and including November 10.”

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Comments

2 Comments
C
Carlos 34 days ago

The only post in RugbyPass about Argentina in pages is this one on Matera’s short suspension.


Nada más.


I thought Argentina was rather high up in the rankings?


RugbyPass is for anglos only?

R
RedWarrior 36 days ago

Italy V Argentina is a very important game. While ranking changes between the 2019 and 2023 tournament played no part in the draw for 2023, rankings at end of 2025 will likely be used for the 2027 draw.


As there are 6 pools in RWC 2027, to get in Band 1 for the draw you need to be in the top #6.


Argentina currently are #6 with 84

Scotland #7 have 82

Italy #8 have circa 80.


Should Argentina lose to Italy they are now in the 82.5 range close to Italy, Scotland and showing Australia a chink of light.

Argentina only lose .5 points by losing to Ireland/France. After the November series there are only 3 International windows left.


Will this factor in Contemponi's analysis and preparation? The Italy match appears to be the real must win.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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