The Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) has announced a strong squad of players to compete in the first two legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series, in Dubai and George, South Africa.
Under new coach, former captain Nicolas Fernandez-Lobbe, Argentina finished a credible seventh place in last year's World Series, reaching the Cup semi finals in South Africa, Australia and England and also winning the Plate trophy at the season finale in Edinburgh.
The UAR has recently conducted a High Performance review, including on the Sevens game, and HP Committee member Agustin Pichot notably travelled to the 2010 Hong Kong event as Team Manager, his goal "to be with the players, understand them, know how Rugby Sevens is nowadays from the inside so that we can then analyze the future of Sevens in Argentina. We are now looking towards Rio 2016, there is a real buzz around Sevens now that it is an Olympic sport," said Pichot, who is is a member of the UAR's High Performance Committee."
Argentine rugby already owes a lot to Sevens. More than 130 players have come through the shortened version of the Game before playing for Los Pumas, indeed 11 of the 13 backs and six of the forwards in their 2007 Rugby World Cup squad had played Sevens, mostly on the World Series.
"Sevens has been very good for Argentine rugby as it has developed many, many of our players. It was crucial for our success in Rugby World Cup 2007," added Pichot.
One notable ommission from the squad is Sevens Rugby's all time leading try-scorer Santiago Gomez Cora, who captained the side last season.
In the Dubai season-opener on 3-4 December the Pumas will face New Zealand, USA and Zimbabwe in pool play and a week later, in George, South Africa, they will come up against the host nation, Portugal and Zimbabwe.
Argentina squad named for Dubai and South Africa: Santiago Bottini, Francisco Cuneo, Gonzalo Gutiérrez Taboada, Francisco Merello, Ramiro Moyano, Martin Núñez, Diego Palma, Tomas Passerotti, Gaston Revol, Santiago Rocchia, Joaquin Todeschini, Walter Weiss
