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Melbourne Rebels add Argentine duo to squad ahead of Super Rugby AU kick-off

(Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

The Melbourne Rebels have added a pair of Los Pumas to their squad just three weeks ahead of the Super Rugby AU kick-off.

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Three-test prop Lucio Sordoni and lock Ignacio Calas have almost completed quarantine and will join the squad in the coming days in preparation of their season-opening clash against the Reds in Brisbane on February 26.

Sordoni, a 22-year-old tighthead, made his test debut against Ireland in 2018 and featured off the bench for Argentina in their second test against the All Blacks in Newcastle last year.

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Brumbies first five Noah Lolesio speaks to media

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Brumbies first five Noah Lolesio speaks to media

The youngster will call on that experience to compete for starting spots with the likes of Wallabies squad member Pone Fa’amausili and Cobus Eloff, who is also in quarantine after returning to Australia from South Africa.

Calas, meanwhile, is an uncapped 24-year-old who stands at 2.01m and has impressed in both the Jaguares and Los Pumas squads in recent times.

It’s in the second row where he will jostle with Wallabies call-up Trevor Hosea, Ross Haylett-Petty, returning Rebels lock Steve Cummins and rookie Josh Canham for starting roles.

Both Sordoni and Calas will add depth to the Melbourne’s tight five, with both players earning praise from Los Pumas head coach Mario Ledesma, according to Rebels boss Dave Wessels.

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“We are very fortunate to have Ignacio and Lucio joining us,” Wessels said.

“We were all impressed with how Argentina played in their recent test matches and their enthusiasm and energy for the game.

“In our talks with Mario Ledesma, both of them seemed to be a good fit for us character-wise and they come from a great environment as Mario is a world-class forwards coach.”

In moving to Australia, Sordoni and Calas will join compatriots Tomas Cubelli, Dominigo Miotti, Tomas Lezana and Santiago Medrano, all of the Western Force, in the second edition of Super Rugby AU.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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