Jeronimo de la Fuente to lead Pumas against Wallabies

David Skippers
Add as a preferred source on Google

Jeronimo de la Fuente will lead a new-look Pumas side when they take on the Wallabies in Saturday’s final Tri Nations Test in Sydney.

The inside centre takes over the captaincy from Pablo Matera, who has been dropped from the matchday squad along with Guido Petti and Santiago Socino after several xenophobic tweets – made by the trio between 2011 and 2013 – surfaced earlier this week.

In all, Pumas head coach Mario Ledesma has made 11 alterations to his starting line-up which took to the field in last weekend’s 38-0 defeat to New Zealand in Newcastle.

In the back-line, full-back Emiliano Boffelli shifts to the left wing, where he replaces Santiago Cordero, with Santiago Carreras coming in to wear the number 15 jersey, while Bautista Delguy replaces Ramiro Moyano on the right wing and Matias Orlando is preferred to Juan Cruz Mallia at outside centre.

There are several changes in the forwards with Santiago Grondona taking Matera’s place on the blindside flank while Rodrigo Bruni returns at number eight.

Bruni’s inclusion in the run-on side means Facundo Isa moves to the openside flank, where he replaces Marcos Kremer, who takes over from Petti at lock.

Kremer is joined in the second-row by Matías Alemanno, who takes Lucas Paulos’ place, while Francisco Gomez Kodela and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro replace Santiago Medrano and Mayco Vivas as the starting props.

Argentina: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (c), 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Facundo Isa, 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements: 16 Jose Luis Gonzalez, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Francisco Gorrissen, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Santiago Chocobares

Date: Saturday, December 5
Venue: Bankwest Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 19:45 local (08:45 GMT)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Nic Berry (Australia)
TMO: Angus Gardner (Australia)

 

Argentina