The Pumas will close their participation in the Rugby Championship this Saturday amid a new scandal, after six players and two staff members violated the health bubble in Australia, so they were isolated and will not be able to attend the match against the Wallabies, scheduled for Saturday at 4 in Argentina. The behavior of the Argentine players prompted a harsh statement from Sanzaar, the organization of the contest, which claimed to feel “disappointed” by what happened.
“Sanzaar is very disappointed by this transgression given the clear rules that are in force to guarantee the health and safety of all players and staffs, and in compliance with all relative sanitary regulations,” the entity’s harsh statement begins. “Sanzaar wants to thank the Queensland government for its continued support and leadership in facilitating the celebration of the Rugby Championship in the state in the last four weeks,” added the organizer of the competition, who explained in detail what happened with the players.
“Following a consultation with the Queensland government, Sanzaar is aware that several members of the Argentine rugby team were detained at the Queensland border after a visit to Byron Bay, New South Wales, on Wednesday 29 September. This trip across the state border is a violation of current Queensland government sanitary measures and the Sanzaar Rugby Championship biosecurity plan, “the entity said. According to what the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR ) through a statement, the players involved are Sebastián Cancelliere, JoaquÃn DÃaz Bonilla, Felipe Ezcurra, Pablo Matera, Santiago Medrano and Santiago Socino, as well as manager Lucas Chioccarelli and video analyst Rodrigo MartÃnez.
In the group of sanctioned rugby players are former captain Matera and Socino, two of the players involved in the scandal over old racist and discriminatory tweets, which broke out in December last year after the controversy over the cold tribute to Diego Maradona.
“Sanzaar informed Rugby Argentina that now none of the members of that group is eligible to participate in the Rugby Championship from now on because they have transgressed the tournament rules,” he explained. “These team members, including six players and two members of the staff, crossed the boundary on their scheduled day of rest without the tournament’s permission and without asking for clarification regarding their authorization to re-enter Queensland under current Covid-19 border restrictions. The group will now stay in New Wales of the Sur and will not be available for the match on the sixth date, against Australia in Gold Coast, on Saturday. He will join the rest of the itinerant delegation on Sunday to fly back to Argentina. “
This conflict between Los Pumas and Sanzaar occurred days after the controversy over the absence of Argentine representation in a promotional photo of the tournament, in which the three captains of the remaining selected teams participated: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Ledesma confirmed the team
With four changes, coach Mario Ledesma confirmed the team for the farewell to the Australians. The DT will make a modification between the backs with the entry of MatÃas Moroni by Santiago Cordero, while in the forwards Rodrigo Bruno, Guido Petti and Rodrigo MartÃnez will go by Pablo Matera, MatÃas Alemanno and Facundo Gigena, respectively, according to what he indicated the technician.
Therefore Los Pumas will say goodbye to the Championship, in which they add five consecutive defeats, forming with Juan Cruz MallÃa; MatÃas Moroni, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Chocobares and Emiliano Bofelli; Santiago Carreras and Gonzalo Bertranou; Rodrigo Bruni, Marcos Kremer and Juan MartÃn González; Tomás Lavanini and Guido Petti; Santiago Medrano, Julián Montoya and Rodrigo MartÃnez.
The substitutes will be Facundo Bosch, Thomas Gallo, Eduardo Bello, MatÃas Alemanno, Francisco Gorrissen, Gonzalo GarcÃa, Domingo Miotti, Mateo Carreras. If Gallo and Bello enter, both are pillars, they will debut with the Argentine jacket.
“There will be time to rate this”
Beyond confirming the team, coach Ledesma tried to downplay the incident with six of his players and considered that the issue should be addressed at another time and not hours before the final match against the Australians.
“It is a consequence of having crossed the border. There will be time to qualify this and find the reasons. I think the most important thing for us is to think about the game, focus on how we are going to prepare it in the best way,” Ledesma excused himself. during the press conference.
“We would be wrong if we focus now on why it was done or what happened. The situation today is what it is,” he assumed after announcing the formation.
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