Facial injury rules Moroni out of Argentina's 100-cap milestone against Australia

Matías Moroni’s bid to become the seventh player to earn 100 caps for Argentina has been delayed after a facial injury ruled him out of Saturday’s Test against Australia in Mendoza.

The outside back sustained the injury while coming off the bench in last weekend’s 27-21 defeat to the Wallabies in Jujuy — his 99th appearance for the Pumas. Moroni replaced inside-centre Faustino Sanchez Valarolo in the final quarter, making six tackles and a couple of carries before leaving the field.

The setback means Moroni will now have to wait until the Nations Championship resumes in November, when Argentina are scheduled to face Ireland, Italy and France. Guido Petti and Matías Alemanno both reached the milestone in July, and Moroni had been on course to join them just over 12 years after his Pumas debut.

The current members of Argentina’s 100-cap club are Pablo Matera, Julián Montoya, Agustín Creevy, Matías Alemanno, Guido Petti, and former fly-half Nicolás Sánchez — the only back among them. Moroni would become just the second back to reach the mark.

The injury caps a difficult run of form for the former Premiership player. In the Pumas’ recent defeat to South Africa, Moroni dropped a pass with the try-line at his mercy on the final play of the game, a moment that ended Argentina’s hopes of salvaging a draw and left him visibly distraught at the final whistle.

Elsewhere in the squad, flanker Facundo Cardozo has had his development status upgraded and is now available for full selection. He joins Benjamín Ortiz, Franco Carrera, Agustín Fraga, Mateo Soler and Tobías Wade as uncapped members of the group, with Ortiz the only one still carrying development status.

Head coach Felipe Contepomi opted against handing debuts to any of them against the Wallabies last weekend, though he did blood four new caps in the 17-10 loss to South Africa. Tight-head Francisco Moreno started that match, while hooker Leonel Oviedo and forwards Juan Penoucos and Juan Martín Scelzo came off the bench.