BUENOS AIRES Dec 29 (Reuters) – 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) said.
The Pumas will play South Africa in Mendoza on Aug. 25, New
Zealand in La Plata on Sept. 29 and Australia in Rosario on Oct.
6, it said in a statement late on Wednesday.
“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.
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 km west of Buenos Aires, Rosario 350 km to
the north and La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province
with the only stadium in South America with a roof, 60 km away.
All three venues are soccer stadiums, in Mendoza the
Malvinas Argentinas built for the 1978 World Cup, 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.
(Reporting By Rex Gowar; Editing by Alison Wildey)
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