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Argentina have suffered an injury blow; Tomás Cubelli has been ruled out of the Rugby Championship. The 32-year-old suffered a hand injury in training at Biarritz. He will now require surgery and will be unable to compete for Los Pumas in the Rugby Championship.
Cubelli started all three matches for Los Pumas in July. He was named by ARN as the best Americas back in the July Internationals. He was a try scorer in the final match, Argentina’s record-setting win over Wales in Cardiff. The match saw him winning his 79th cap. Only Nicolás Sánchez has more caps of those on the roster for the Rugby Championship.
Cubelli will be replaced by another scrum-half. The player is yet to be named though ARN has learned that he is not based in Argentina. The name is expected to be confirmed as Gonzalo García. Ledesma named him on his 67-man list of identified players for 2021. The other scrum-halves are Cubelli, Gonzalo Bertranou and Felipe Ezcurra.
Bertranou and Ezcurra were both used as replacements for Cubelli in July. The former earned two caps and the latter one. They are now in-line to be the starting and replacement for Los Pumas in the Rugby Championship. The traveling replacement may have other ideas.
García captained Los Cafeteros Pro in the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). He was named by ARN in the SLAR All-Stars. There was little debate that he was ahead of all other scrum-halves in the league including Ezcurra.
There will need to be another player on stand-by. Int he event that there is an injury another scrum-half will join the roster. The two names, other than García are Martín Landajo and Lautaro Bazán Vélez. The former is now in France with Perpignan while the latter won Bronze at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this week.
📌 Novedades de @lospumas
☑️ El medio scrum Tomás Cubelli sufrió una lesión quirúrgica en una de sus manos, por lo que será baja del plantel y en los próximos días informaremos su reemplazo.#VamosLosPumas #Rugby
— Los Pumas (@lospumas) July 31, 2021
