Felipe Contepomi shows his hand for Argentina’s eagerly anticipated clash with British & Irish Lions
Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi and captain Julian Montoya.
Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi has named an experienced starting line-up for their clash with the British & Irish Lions at the Aviva Stadium on Friday.
Contepomi has opted for the tried and trusted with the likes of captain Julian Montoya and fellow Test centurion Pablo Matera included in the run-on side for this eagerly anticipated encounter.
Five changes from last Test
There are five changes to the side which started Los Pumas‘ last fixture which ended in a 37-23 defeat against France in an Autumn Nations Series Test at the Stade de France in Paris last November.
There are two alterations to the forwards from that encounter with Franco Molina and Mayco Vivas taking over from Guido Petti and Thomas Gallo at lock and loosehead prop respectively.
Vivas is joined in the front-row by Joe Sclavi, who packs down on the tighthead side, and Montoya who is the starting hooker while the tight five is completed by Pedro Rubiolo, who joins Molina in the second-row.
Meanwhile, Matera and Saracens star Juan Martin González are the starting flankers while Joaquin Oviedo joins them in an exciting looking back-row and lines p at number eight.
In the backline, there three changes with Ignacio Mendy (left wing), Justo Piccardo (inside centre) and Santiago Carreras (full-back) coming in to the starting line-up as replacements for Bautista Delguy, Matias Moroni and Juan Cruz Mallia respectively.
Elsewhere, Gonzalo Garcia retains his spot at scrum-half and will continue his blossoming half-back partnership with star playmaker Tomas Albornoz who plies his trade with Italian outfit Benetton.
Lucio Cinti joins Piccardo in the centres while the back three is completed by former World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Rodrigo Isgro.
Contepomi has opted for a conventional 5/3 split on his replacements bench with Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Santiago Grondona and Joaquin Moro named as forward cover, while Simon Benítez Cruz, Moroni and Santiago Cordero will be the reserve backs.
Friday’s fixture will be the first time in 20 years that Argentina take on the British & Irish Lions. The last time these teams met, the match ended in a 25-25 draw in Cardiff in 2005 ahead of the Lions’ tour to New Zealand.
Los Pumas team to face the British & Irish Lions
Argentina: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Justo Piccardo, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Juan Martin González, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joe Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Mayco Vivas
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Santiago Grondona, 20 Joaquin Moro, 21 Simon Benítez Cruz, 22 Matias Moroni, 23 Santiago Cordero
Date: Friday, June 20
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT)
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)
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