The Pumas will meet this Saturday against Australia, in a match corresponding to the second and penultimate date of the Rugby Championship tournament, in which the other powers of the hemisphere such as South Africa and New Zealand also participate.
The game will be played from 6:45 at the Comm Bank Stadium in Sydney and will be directed by referee Jaco Peyper, from South Africa, with television broadcast by ESPN. Meanwhile, starting at 4:05 in Argentina, the New Zealand All Blacks will host the South African Springboks at the Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland.
Los Pumas fell categorically in their debut against New Zealand 41-12, in a match played last week at the Malvinas Argentinas stadium in Mendoza. Previously, South Africa, current world champion, beat Australia 43-12, in a duel on the first date held in Pretoria. With these results, the table was headed by South Africa and New Zealand with five points, while Argentina and Australia have zero.
The Argentine national team will have to improve defensively (the All Blacks scored 7 tries), be precise in handling the ball and be more effective in fixed positions, in addition to looking for offensive variants.
DT Michael Cheika’s team will present four modifications in the initial formation against the Wallabies. Mendoza wing Rodrigo Isgró, a member of Los Pumas ‘7, will make his debut, replacing Sebastián Cancelliere. In addition, the winger from Rosario Jerónimo De la Fuente will enter through Matías Moroni, while the prop Francisco Gómez Kodela will go through Lucio Sordoni and the third line Santiago Grondona will enter through Rodrigo Bruni,
They will also change position in the field Juan Manuel González, who will play as eighth, and Lucio Cinti, who will be located as center. The substitute bench will be made up of Agustín Creevy, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Eduardo Bello, Lucas Paulos, Bruni, Lautaro Bazán Vélez and Nicolás Sánchez.
The coach of the Australian national team, Eddie Jones, confirmed the starting team, with five changes. The most prominent loss is that of its captain Michael Hooper, who will be replaced by James Slipper. The other modifications are the addition of Richie Arnold in the second row, Mark Nawaqanitawase as a wing, the wing Jared Holloway the center Samu Kerevi.
The teams from Australia and Argentina met 39 times, Los Pumas won seven times, Australia had 28 victories and equalized three times. During the last confrontation they played in San Juan, Los Pumas defeated the Wallabies 48-17, achieving -in this way- the largest victory in history.