Argentina make four changes for Tonga meeting

Adam Kyriacou

Argentina head coach Mario Ledesma has made four changes to his starting line-up for their match against Tonga at Hanazono Rugby Stadium.

Nicolas Sanchez, Agustin Creevy and Javier Ortega Desio have been moved to the replacements bench while Ramiro Moyano drops out of the 23 altogether, with Benjamin Urdapilleta, Santiago Carreras, Julian Montoya and Tomas Lezana coming into the team for Saturday’s Pool C match.

Urdapilleta, who did not play for the Pumas at all between 2013 and 2019, will make his first start since 2013 in his 13th international. Carreras will be making his first start after winning two caps as a replacement.

Despite playing a side which lost heavily to England in their opener, Pumas number eight Lezana expects a tough clash this weekend.

“It will be a crunch, without a question. Tonga is a very physical team and I think we should keep to our set-pieces and redouble our efforts on defence as well as the contact area, since the game will no doubt veer in that direction,” said the hard-working number eight.

Argentina lost their opening pool game to France and will be desperate to keep their qualification hopes alive with a victory over Tonga.

Argentina: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Santiago Carreras, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Tomas Lezana, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Bautista Delguy

Date: Saturday, September 28
Venue: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiosaka City
Kick-off: 13:45 local (05:45 BST, 04:45 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

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