Rugby: Felines sharpen their claws

With the Mendoza team: Juan González and Rodrigo were starters, the team coached by Felipe Contepomi wants to make history against the famous Lions Rugby XV

Rugby. Felipe Contepomi gives instructions to his pupils.

Rugby. This Friday, June 20, starting at 4 p.m., Los Pumas will face the British & Irish Lions for the first time in 20 years. The prestigious British and Irish team, led by Andy Farrell, will play their farewell match against the national team before their tour of Australia. This will be their first ever match in Ireland.

For Felipe Contepomi's team, this will be the first of 13 matches they will play this year.

The Pumas arrived in Dublin on Saturday, June 14, and trained at the Old Belvedere Rugby Football Club in the Irish capital, while the Lions arrived on Sunday after completing a training camp in Portugal.

This week also marks the 60th anniversary of another event that marked the history of our rugby. On June 19, 1965, the Argentine national team defeated the Junior Springboks 11-6 at the legendary Ellis Park in Johannesburg, during the tour that marked the birth of Los Pumas.

Among those selected to face the British & Irish Lions are three Los Pumas players who, if selected, will wear the Argentine jersey for the first time: Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, and Simón Benítez Cruz.

This match, being a friendly, will not include caps (matches played by the national team) for players from either Los Pumas or the Lions.

It will not count towards the ranking either.

The starting fifteen

Mayco Vivas

Julian Montoya (Captain)

Joel Sclavi

Franco Molina

Pedro Rubiolo

Pablo Matera (Vice Captain)

Juan Martín González

Joaquín Oviedo

Gonzalo García