Fernandez Lobbe: Leads unchanged XV
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has kept the faith in his side that narrowly lost to Australia for Saturday's Rugby Championship rematch New Zealand in La Plata.
The South Americans were 13 points ahead of the Wallabies before conceding two tries in the final quarter, eventually losing 23-19 on the Gold Coast two weeks ago.
The only changes made to the matchday 22 are on the bench as Phelan replaces prop Juan Pablo Orlandi with Marcos Ayerza and loose forward Tomas Vallejos for Leonardo Senatore.
Argentina are yet to taste victory in their first season in the revamped championship, having lost their three matches on the road but secured a 16-16 draw at home to South Africa last month.
A win for the Pumas will be their first against New Zealand, and prevent the world champions from clinching the Rugby Championship trophy with a match to spare.
New Zealand, who have won their four games so far, need one more victory to be sure of the title before their final match against South Africa in Johannesburg on October 6.
"Our objective is to improve match by match. In defence the players are full of confidence, we're getting better and as a consequence the results will follow," said Phelan.
"To play this tournament implies effort rather than pressure. I single out the valour, commitment, heart and passion of the team.
"Saturday's goal will be to avoid the drain of the final minutes."
Argentina: 15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (c), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Tomas Vallejos, 19 Tomas Leonardi, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Martin Rodriguez, 22 Juan Imhoff
Date: Saturday, 29 September
Venue: Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata
Kick-off: 20:10 (11:10 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Pascal Gauzere (France)
Television match official: Francisco Pastrana
Comments
Bash says...
Sandal, it's 11:10 PM GMT
Posted 10:19 27th September 2012
sandal says...
Judging by the times listed above, and in the fixtures section on the home page, someone at PR is having serious problems calculating their time zones.
Perhaps they're jetlagged ...
Posted 01:46 27th September 2012
melkdave says...
Fitness is the biggest thing for the pumas atm,in all thier games so far ,they have looked jaded in the fina quarter.Their gameplan does take it out of the team collectively ,and they need periods of the game where they can to some extent coast a little.More kicking in to touch ,helps in that regard,so i expect them to do just a little more of that.Hopefully the crowd will also give them a bit of a second wind,and if so I feel it will be a closer game than last .Still expecting a ABs win ,from a hard fought match ,but by 3-5 ponits rather than the 10-15 of last time they met.
Posted 00:51 27th September 2012
stumpy says...
I think Phelan has it spot on. The result probably isn't important, what is important is they learn how not to leak points in the final 15 minutes of the game because this has been what has costed them. If they can solve this, they should beat the Wallabies the week after.
Posted 00:03 27th September 2012
Kawasakifreak says...
Argentina have the mental resilience to beat one of their opponents at the moment.
Now they need to develop the other areas of their game & I've seen evidence of that in this tournament already.
Good Luck Pumas.
Posted 22:38 26th September 2012
PREEST says...
The all blacks got a mighty scare last time we played in Argentina, and I expect no less on Saturday. The Pumas, as always, will be very difficult to beat in Argentina, as they proved against the boks. Argentina should have already won two of their games so far...
Posted 13:17 26th September 2012