Argentina to play outside Buenos Aires

Argentina will host all three of their matches in their debut season in the Rugby Championship in 2012 outside the capital, the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) revealed last night.

The Pumas will play South Africa in Mendoza on 25 August, New Zealand in La Plata on 29 September and Australia in Rosario on 6 October, the UAR said in a statement.

“The choice was made with the objective of following a federal line, taking the Pumas to play in the interior of the country so everyone can enjoy our national team,” UAR president Luis Castillo said.

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When the new four-nation southern hemisphere championship was presented at a news conference in Buenos Aires a month ago, Sanzar, the body representing the other three nations, said it favoured playing at least two of the matches in Buenos Aires.

Sources close to the UAR said the decision was the most economically sound for the game’s national governing body.

Mendoza is 1,000 kilometres west of Buenos Aires, Rosario 350km to the north and La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province with the only stadium in South America with a roof, 60km away.

All three venues are traditionally football stadiums, in Mendoza the Malvinas Argentinas built for the 1978 World Cup – where Scotland drew 1-1 against Iran and then beat the Netherlands 3-2 – in Rosario the Gigante de Arroyito ground of Rosario Central, which also held 1978 World Cup matches, and in La Plata the municipal Estadio Unico.