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Days out of the Quarter Finals Pablo Matera has been ruled out of the remainder of Rugby World Cup 2023. Matera was injured in Argentina’s pool match against Japan on Sunday in Nantes. His injury saw him replaced early and the medical conclusion confirms that his tournament is over.
Matera has been replaced by Lucas Paulos. It is a positional change as Matera is a flanker while Paulos plays second-row. This is not out of the ordinary as flankers Pedro Rubiolo and Marcos Kremer cover second-row and second-rower Guido Petti covers flanker.
Paulos plays his rugby in France. The 25-year-old plays for Bayonne in the Top 14 and previously played for Brive. Prior to that he played Super Rugby for Los Jaguares. He made his test debut for Argentina against New Zealand in 2020. He currently has 12 test caps for Argentina.
The addition of Paulos to the roster takes the second-rowers from three to four specialists. Paulos joins Matías Alemanno, Tomás Lavanini, and Guido Petti. The trio all played at Rugby World Cups 2015 and 2019.
Should he receive game time against Wales then Paulos will be making his first appearance in a Rugby World Cup. Paulos started for Argentina against South Africa in the 2023 Rugby Championship in Johannesburg. He was forced-off early after a knock-on to the head and replaced by Pedro Rubiolo.
Matera captained Argentina at Rugby World Cup 2019. He earned his 98th cap on Saturday. He will not be able to earn his 99th in Argentina’s Quarter Final against Wales.
The 30-year-old started in Argentina’s pool matches in France. He wore the 6 shirt for all 80 minutes against England in Marseille and also against Samoa in Saint-Étienne. He was rested for the pool match against Chile in Nantes and started against Japan also in Nantes. His game time was restricted to 24 minutes against Japan.
The match against Chile may provide insight into Argentina’s potential formation to face Wales. The battle of the Andes saw Juan Martin González playing in place of Matera. He featured at N8 in Argentina’s other matches.
Argentina lined up against Chile with González at 6, Marcos Kremer as the other flanker and Facundo Isa at N8. González and Isa played 80 minutes while Kremer was replaced by Matías Alemanno in the 51st minute. This saw a reconfiguration with Guido Petti moving from second-row to flanker. Petti’s time at flanker was brief. He was replaced by Joaquín Oviedo in the 62nd minute.
Matera is the second Argentine flanker to be ruled out of the World Cup. Santiago Grondona suffered a serious knee injury in Argentina’s final warm-up match which was against Spain in Madrid in late August. Oviedo replaced Grondona on the roster.
Paulos narrowly missed out on the original roster. The younger Pedro Rubiolo was preferred to join the veteran trio of Alemanno, Lavanini and Petti. Paulos debuted for Argentina two years before Rubiolo.
