Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The fearsome former Pumas second-row combination of Manuel Carizza and Patricio Albacete are to reunite on Saturday. They have been named to start together to lock the scrum for Racing 92 who play a friendly in Hong Kong against Super Rugby side, the Sharks.
The fixture is to be the NATIXIS Rugby Cup and is to take place at 5am Argentine time on Saturday. It will see Carizza and Albacete playing together again for the first time since 2013. The last time they did so was for Argentina against Wales in Cardiff.
Unbeknownst to the players and observers at the time was that Albacete would never return to play for his country. A fall-out with Head Coach Daniel Hourcade ended his career. Albacete has stated that he was promised the captaincy of Argentina with Hourcade subsequently claiming it to have been false. It tragically ended the test career of one of the Argentina’s greatest ever players.
The match was the second under Hourcade. Carizza and Albacete both started the week prior against England which began the Hourcade era.
From 2009-2013 Carizza and Albacete formed the starting lock combination for Argentina. They were a vital part of what was arguably the best scrum in the world during these years. Since then Los Pumas have not been as potent in this area.
Also starting for Racing 92 this weekend will be Juan Imhoff. The Rosario flier joined Carizza and Albacete at Rugby World Cup 2011. Carizza narrowly missed out with Hourcade opting to select Matías Alemanno instead. At the time it was not a popular selection.
