Argentina began their Nations Championship preparations in London on Monday with a squad showing three changes from the list originally named last week.

Felipe Contepomi selected a 33-strong squad on October 21 for this week’s three-day camp in England ahead of the Nations Championship fixture block featuring matches away to Ireland, Italy and France.

However, injuries to a trio of players who play for clubs in the French Top 14 and the English Prem resulted in some changes.

Prop Thomas Gallo dislocated his left wrist in Lyon’s 31-27 win at Bayonne, resulting in an operation on Saturday that will sideline him for at least six months. He has been replaced by Rodrigo Martinez, the Dragons-based loosehead.

Monday’s training

Another casualty was Santiago Chocobares. The Toulouse midfielder picked up a concussion in the October 18 Champions Cup win over Exeter and with him still waiting for the all-clear, Bristol’s Matias Moroni has been called up.

The third and final change was the unavailability of Gloucester’s Santiago Carreras, following the knee injury sustained in his Prem match against Bath. His spot has gone to Mateo Soler, who had been training with the Argentina XV squad ahead of their November 6 friendly versus England A at The Rec.

Monday’s Nations Championship training in London marked the start of the build-up to their November 6 opener against Ireland in Dublin. It went ahead with Shaun Edwards, their newly recruited defence coach, still contracted to John Mitchell’s England women’s team.

Edwards had been let go by French boss Fabien Galthie despite their Six Nations title win earlier this year, and he agreed to help out with the England women’s team defence before getting picked up by the Pumas. His English contract runs until next Friday’s match away to the USA and he will then link up with Argentina in Dublin.

It was October 9 when the former France and Wales assistant was confirmed as an Argentina recruit through to the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, putting an end to speculation that he could be snapped up by England’s Steve Borthwick.

He explained in a statement: “I’m delighted to join Felipe Contepomi, his coaching staff and the Argentina rugby team at the end of this month until the World Cup next year in Australia. I have always admired the ability and quality of Argentine players and I hope to bring some of my international experience to the team during the next year.”

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.

Edwards will be joined by former Argentina head coach and hooker Mario Ledesma, who has been appointed as the Pumas’ new forwards coach. Their recruitment followed Contepomi’s team winning just one of its six 2026 matches – against Wales in July.

Home defeats were inflicted by Scotland, England, South Africa and Australia, while their most recent match ended in a September 5 draw with the Wallabies. This week’s training camp in London will end on Wednesday, with Contepomi then due to name his official Nations Championship squad.