Argentina Eye Scotland with 34-man Roster to Open July

Argentina is eyeing Scotland with a 34-man roster to open July and 2026. In their first match of 2026, Los Pumas will play host to Scotland in Córdoba. Felipe Contepomi has named a 34-man roster for the fixture which is an opening round clash in the inaugural Nations Championship.

Contepomi’s roster comes with come key returnees as well as uncapped players and a number of unavailable stars too. The assignment is the first of three in July with more players to join the roster during the month of July.

Argentina’s complete home series in the month of July will see matches on July 04, 11 and 18. The aforementioned test match against Scotland in Córdoba will be the July 04 fixture. July 11 sees Argentina facing Wales in San Juan while Los Pumas take-on England on July 18 in Santiago del Estero.

 

UNCAPPED NAMES

Contepomi’s first roster of the year comes with five uncapped players. One plays Super Rugby in Australia while four are domestic-based players in Super Rugby Americas (SRA).

The Australian-based player is Leonel Oviedo. The hooker is the older brother of the established N8, Joaquín Oviedo. Leonel Oviedo has been in Pumas rosters previously but remains uncapped. He featured for the Barbarians against South Africa in June 2026.

Second-rower Luciano Asevedo has previously trained with Los Pumas but has not yet been capped. The 2.03m tall, 124kg forward has the height and the size in his favor. He has attracted interest from Toulon about joining the French giants. His selection comes with Tomás Lavanini (91 caps) missing out.

Dogos fullback, Mateo Soler has also been included on the roster. The 23-year-old has previously featured on Pumas rosters too but is uncapped. He has been preferred to Pampas fullback, Tobías Wade who had a strong debut season in SRA.

In addition to the trio there are two additional uncapped players included but as invitational players. Flanker Juan Penoucos and center Agustín Fraga both played SRA for Pampas.

 

RECALLED PUMAS

There are three recalled Pumas for July 2026 who were not involved in the November 2026 tour of the UK. The trio in question all played under Contepomi in 2025 but did so in differing ways.

In 2024-2024 scrum-half Gonzalo García successfully established himself as Contepomi’s starting scrum-half. He missed out on selection for November after being forced-off against South Africa in the Rugby Championship. The 27-year-old has recently said goodbye to Zebre Parma and signed for Pau in the Top 14.

2025 saw N8 Joaquin Moro making the step-up from Los Pampas in SRA to the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership. Moro debuted for Los Pumas in 2024 and played his most recent test match against Uruguay in 2025.

Faustino Sánchez Valarolo debuted for Argentina against Uruguay in what was Moro’s most recent cap. The home win over Uruguay saw Sánchez Valarolo entering as a replacement. The Dogos center earned his one cap to date in Salta.

 

NOT SELECTED

The expansion of SRA has contributed to an expanded player base. As a result there are members of Argentina’s player pool who have missed out based on selection alone.

Loose Head props Ignacio Calles and Rodrigo Martínez play in elite competitions but have not been selected. Similarly, Santiago Medrano and Facundo Bosch were regulars under Mario Ledesma but neither has made the July roster.

Second-rowers Lucas Paulos, and Tomás Lavanini both continue to play at the elite level professionally but they have been left out as has the uncapped Franco Carrera who plays in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

A trio of French-based back-rowers are additional talking points. Contepomi has not selected Bautista Pedemonte, Rodrigo Bruni, or Facundo Isa.

Former first-choice scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou misses out while Jerónimo de la Fuente last played for Argentina in what was his 80th cap back in July 2024. In addition, former Puma Matías Orlando has missed out despite another SRA center being selected. The uncapped Tomás Medina watches on from the URC.

Contepomi handed Santiago Pernas his first cap in July 2025 against Uruguay. He was injured and replaced early and is yet to play again. He and fullback Martín Bogado are notable back-three omissions.

 

INJURED AND NOT AVAILABLE

Injuries have contributed to selections. They include front-line players Thomas Gallo, Juan Martin González, Juan Cruz Mallía and Pedro Rubiolo. All four have been regulars under Contepomi when available.

The trio of Bautista Bernasconi, Benjamín Elizalde and Benjamín Grondona all debuted for Argentina in 2025 but are sidelined through injuries now. Injury to Eduardo Bello ended his Rugby Championship early in 2024 and he is not yet ready for a recall.

The Top 14 Final takes place in France on Saturday June 27. The date means Toulouse and Montpellier players have not been considered for the July 04 home test match against Scotland. This means that Santiago Chocobares, Efraín Elías, Domingo Miotti and Justo Piccardo will not feature in Córdoba.

INJURED LIST
Eduardo Bello
Emiliano Boffelli
Bautista Bernasconi
Benjamín Elizalde
Thomas Gallo
Juan Martín González
Benjamín Grondona
Juan Cruz Mallía
Pedro Rubiolo
Joel Sclavi

 

JULY FIXTURES – NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

JULY 04 VS (Estadio Mario Kempes, Córdoba, AR)

JULY 11 VS(Estadio Bicentenario, San Juan, AR)

JULY 18 VS(Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, Santiago del Estero, AR)

 

ARGENTINA ROSTER – FORWARDS

LOOSE HEAD PROP
Mayco Vivas (Oyonnax, Fr, 39 caps)
Boris Wenger (Harlequins, UK, 5 caps)

HOOKER
Julián Montoya (Pau, UK, 117 caps)
Leonel Oviedo (Western Force, uncapped)
Ignacio Ruiz (Perpignan, FR, 26 caps)

TIGHT HEAD PROP
Francisco Coria Marchetti (Brive, FR, 8 caps)
Pedro Delgado (Harlequins, UK, 9 caps)
Tomás Rapetti (Toulouse, FR, 3 caps)

LOOSE HEAD SECOND-ROW
Franco Molina (Newcastle Red Bulls, UK, 19 caps)
Guido Petti (Harlequins, UK, 98 caps)

TIGHT HEAD SECOND-ROW
Matías Alemanno (Vannes, FR, 99 caps)
Luciano Asevedo (Tarucas, uncapped)

FLANKER
Santiago Grondona (Pau, FR, 25 caps)
Marcos Kremer (Clermont, FR, 81 caps)
Pablo Matera (Honda Heat, JP, 121 caps)
Juan Penoucos (Pampas, uncapped) *

N8
Joaquin Moro (Leicester Tigers, UK, 3 caps
Joaquin Oviedo (Perpignan, FR, 22 caps)

* Invitational

 

 

ARGENTINA ROSTER – BACKS

SCRUM-HALF
Simón Benítez Cruz Newcastle Red Bulls, 10 caps)
Gonzalo García (Pau, FR, 16 caps)
Agustín Moyano (Western Force, AU, 8 caps)

FLY HALF
Tomás Albornoz (Toulon, FR, 21 caps)
Gerónimo Prisciantelli (Racing 92, FR, 4 caps)
Nicolás Roger (Dogos, 3 caps)

INSIDE CENTER
Faustino Sánchez Valarolo (Dogos, 1 cap)

OUTSIDE CENTER
Lucio Cinti (Saracens, UK, 39 caps)
Agustín Fraga (Pampas, uncapped) *
Matías Moroni (Bristol Bears, UK, 94 caps)

WING
Mateo Carreras (Bayonne, FR, 33 caps)
Bautista Delguy (Clermont, FR, 39 caps)
Rodrigo Isgró (Harlequins, UK, 16 caps)
Ignacio Mendy (Benetton, IT, 4 caps)

FULLBACK
Santiago Carreras (Bath, UK, 64 caps)
Mateo Soler (Dogos, uncapped)

* Invitational