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Argentina U20 captain joins senior squad for Tests against All Blacks

Efrain Elias (Captain) of Argentina celebrates scoring a try during the World Rugby U/20 Championship, 5th Place Semi Final match between Argentina and South Africa at DHL Stadium on July 14, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Talented second-rower Efrain Elias has been called into Argentina’s senior squad for the first time as Los Pumas prepare to take on the All Blacks in two blockbuster Tests to start their Rugby Championship campaign.

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Elias captained Argentina at the recent World Rugby U20s Championship in South Africa and also played a key role in some memorable performances at the U20 Rugby Championship on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, earlier this year.

The Los Pumitas skipper joins the likes of 101-cap backrower Pablo Matera, veteran Test hooker Julian Montoya, and Argentina enforcers Juan Martin Gonzalez and Marcos Kremer in the 31-man squad to travel to New Zealand.

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Argentina are coming off a successful end to their three-match July series which saw them beat France and Uruguay after losing their first Test of the year to Les Bleus. They’ll be looking to extend their winning streak against the All Blacks in Wellington and Auckland.

New Zealand won the last match between the two sides, which was a one-sided semi-final at last year’s Rugby World Cup in France. But fans will of course remember Argentina’s historic 25-18 triumph in Christchurch two years ago.

Head coach Felipe Contepomi has made it clear that the Los Pumas squad may change ahead of Test matches against Australia and Sout Africa. This group is only locked in for the two-Test series against the All Blacks in New Zealand.

“After meeting up with the squad for the three weeks of the July Window, we now have the enormous challenge of starting a new Rugby Championship and continuing to build and evolve as a team” Felipe Contepomi said in a statement.

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“For the first two matches with New Zealand we have a list of 31 players, and something important to note  is that this list is not definitive for the rest of the competition, but may be modified as the tournament progresses.

“On the other hand, we want to thank the Argentine public for their enormous support in the first three matches of the year and we are looking forward to meeting again in La Plata, Santa Fe and Santiago del Estero in the coming week.”

Argentina will come up against an All Blacks squad which only includes one uncapped player in the 36-man group. Hurricanes playmaker Ruben Love will hope to debut at international level during the Rugby Championship.

Halfback TJ Perenara has made the grade after suffering a knee injury during the first Test of the year against England, and both Sam Cane and David Havili are among those who have been called into the national side.

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The first Test between New Zealand and Argentina at Wellington’s Sky Stadium will be held on Saturday, 10 August. Those same sides with go head-to-head for a second time one week later at Auckland’s Eden Park.

Los Pumas squad to take on the All Blacks

ALBORNOZ, Thomas (8 caps) BAZAN VELEZ, Lautaro (15 caps) BELLO, Eduardo (24 caps) BERTRANOU, Gonzalo (60 caps) BOGADO, Martin (4 caps) BOTH, Matthew (20 caps) BOTH, Santiago (45 caps) CHOCOBARES, Santiago (21 caps) CINTI, Lucio (23 caps) LAMB, Santiago (52 caps) CREEVY, Agustin (108 caps) DELGUY, Bautista (27 caps) ELIAS, Ephraim (Without caps) GALLO, Thomas (26 caps) GARCÍA, Gonzalo (4 caps) GONZALEZ, Juan Martin (31 caps) KREMER, Marcos (67 caps) LAVANINI, Tomás (86 caps) MALLÍA, Juan Cruz (33 caps) MATERA, Pablo (101 caps) MOLINA, Franco (3 caps) MONTOYA, Julian (97 caps) MORONI, Matías (82 caps) ORLANDO, Matías (61 caps) OVIEDO, Joaquín (5 caps) PEDEMONTE, Baptist (1 cap) RUBIOLO, Pedro (12 caps) RUIZ, Ignacio (10 caps) SCLAVI, Joel (18 caps) SORDONI, Lucio (7 caps) VIVAS, Mayco (24 caps)

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H
Hellhound 21 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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