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ARGENTINE FORWARDS \u2013 POTENTIAL COMEBACK PUMAS IN 2026<\/p>\nA notable turnover of Argentine players has taken place in the two years of international competition under Felipe Contepomi. In some cases, former permanent selections have been overtaken while in others former fringe players are now further behind. This article identifies players who could make comebacks for Los Pumas in 2026.<\/p>\n
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ARGENTINE FORWARDS \u2013 POTENTIAL COMEBACK PUMAS IN 2026<\/p>\n
Contepomi had Ignacio Calles on his rosters in both 2024 and 2025. He answered the call well in 2024 to help Argentina beat South Africa in Santiago del Estero<\/a>. Injury saw him unable to add to his 8 test caps in 2025. Mayco Vivas became first-choice with Thomas Gallo also injured while Boris Wenger performed well as a rookie loose head. Calles is well-placed for future opportunities while Rodrigo Mart\u00ednez is also in the conversation.<\/p>\n Tight Head prop has also seen notable changes. Francisco G\u00f3mez Kodela\u2019s retirement combined with injuries to fellow 2023 props Eduardo Bello and Jo\u00ebl Sclavi saw debuts for Francisco Coria Marchetti, Pedro Delgado and Tom\u00e1s Rapetti. Bello continues his recovery and the 27-time capped player is a potential comeback Puma. Santiago Medrano has been overlooked by Contepomi though may yet add to his 31 caps.<\/p>\n Contepomi has changed the second-row picture. Guido Petti remains a regular though Mat\u00edas Alemanno and Tom\u00e1s Lavanini have both been overtaken by Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo and Efra\u00edn El\u00edas. Alemanno only earned 1 cap in 2025 and Lavanini none. They have 99 and 91 caps respectively.<\/p>\n World Cup back-rower Rodrigo Bruni and Facundo Isa both sat-out 2024, citing the need for rest following the World Cup year. Bruni is yet to be selected under Contepomi while Isa played in the 2025 home series against England. Contepomi has handed debuts to others such as Joaqu\u00edn Moro and Benjamin Grondona who both now play in the English Premiership. Neither featured in the 2025 Rugby Championship or November Internationals but are playing well for the Leicester Tigers and Bristol Bears respectively.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The scrum-half position is unrecognizable now compared to that under Michael Cheika or Mario Ledesma. Tom\u00e1s Cubelli never played again after Rugby World Cup 2027, Lautaro Baz\u00e1n V\u00e9lez transitioned to Rugby Sevens and Gonzalo Bertranou was overtaken by Gonzalo Garc\u00eda in 2024 and by others in 2025. Depending on circumstances, Bertranou may add to his 68 caps.<\/p>\n Contepomi has converted his former position of fly half into a position of depth today. Santiago Carreras and Tom\u00e1s Albornoz have both put in match-winning performances against world-class opposition. Los Pumas have also won test matches with newcomers Ger\u00f3nimo Prisciantelli and Nicol\u00e1s Roger wearing the 10 jersey. Meanwhile, Domingo Miotti continues to watch-on and perform well in the Top 14 for Montpellier. Contepomi is watching.<\/p>\n Santiago Carreras and Ger\u00f3nimo Prisciantelli are both utility players who cover fullback. In addition, Contepomi started Juan Cruz Mall\u00eda and Benjam\u00edn Elizalde in the position in 2025. Mall\u00eda is likely out of all of 2026 following his injury caused by a late tackle by Tom Curry for England<\/a>. Meanwhile, Emiliano Boffelli has not played for Argentina since Rugby World Cup 2023. Boffelli briefly trained with Los Pumas in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A notable turnover of Argentine players has taken place in the two years of international competition under Felipe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-392867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ARGENTINE BACKS \u2013 POTENTIAL COMEBACK PUMAS IN 2026<\/p>\n