SYDNEY: Pablo Matera has been stripped of the captaincy of the Argentina national rugby team and suspended along with two teammates over historic social media posts which have been deemed discriminatory and xenophobic.
The suspensions were announced Tuesday after an emergency meeting of the Argentina Rugby Union, and further disciplinary action may be coming.
Matera became a national hero when he led the Argentina team to its first-ever win over the New Zealand All Blacks during the Tri-Nations series in Australia three weeks ago. Now he, veteran lock Guido Petti and hooker Santiago Socino will miss Los Pumas final Tri-Nations match against Australia in Sydney on Saturday as their suspensions begin.
The board of the Argentina union issued a statement saying it repudiates the discriminatory and xenophobic comments published by members of the Los Pumas team on social networks.
It said the board resolved to first, revoke the captaincy of Pablo Matera and asked (the national team) staff…