Argentina: Julian Montoya back to lead at hooker as Pumas change four for Scotland clash

Adam Kyriacou
Argentina captain Julian Montoya looks on during a Test match.

Argentina are bolstered by the return of captain Julian Montoya for their Autumn Nations Series clash with Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Montoya missed last weekend’s defeat to Wales but is back in the line-up, replacing Agustin Creevy at hooker as the latter misses out on the squad altogether.

There are four changes to the starting XV from the Cardiff game as Bautista Delguy, Matías Orlando, Eduardo Bello and Montoya all get the nod this week.

Montoya returns at hooker

They replace Mateo Carreras, Matias Moroni, Francisco Gómez Kodela and the aforementioned Creevy, with only Moroni remaining in the matchday 23.

Head coach Michael Cheika has also made two further tweaks to his bench as Lautaro Velez-Bazan covers scrum-half and Nicolas Sanchez is back-up 10.

Eliseo Morales and Tomás Albornoz subsequently do not feature this week.

Hosts Scotland will be looking to exact revenge over Los Pumas after the South Americans edged them 2-1 in their July series, making it an intriguing clash.

However, this is a dangerous Argentina side that has beaten New Zealand, Australia and England in 2022 and will be looking to sign off the year with a win.

Pumas hope to bounce back

Cheika’s men will be smarting though after the 20-13 loss to Wales as they only managed to cross the whitewash once, through prop Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.

They will again hope for a solid showing off the tee from Emiliano Boffelli, but the open air conditions at Murrayfield are set to be tougher than Cardiff.

Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martín González, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Lautaro Velez-Bazan, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matías Moroni

Date: Saturday, November 19
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 15:15 GMT
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (England), Ian Tempest (England)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)

READ MORE: Sione Tuipulotu: Scotland centre looking to ‘get one back’ on Pumas after summer heartbreak in Argentina