Pumitas ready for u20 Championship opener

Argentina have drawn hosts Georgia for their first match of the 2017 World Rugby u20 Championship. The match will be played at the Avchala Stadium in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Both sides will be looking to get their tournament off to a flying start but perhaps with differing tournament goals. While Georgia will be keen to come away with at least one victory against top tier opposition, Argentina are considered one of the challengers for the top spot after claiming 3rd overall in the 2016 tournament.

Los Pumitas have named eight returning players in a powerful starting lineup. Santiago Pulella, Franco Molina, Bautista Stávile, and Jaguares standout Marcos Kremer are all named in the forwards, with Nahuel Milan among the reserves. The backs are strengthened by Teo Castiglioni, captain Tomás Malanos, and outstanding fullback Bautista Delguy.

The Georgians bring seven players back from 2016. Props Lasha Tabidze and Ushangi Cheishvili and captain Ilia Spanderashvili are second-timers in the forwards. Highly-rated scrumhalf Gela Aprasidze headlines the backs that also have returnees in outside back trio Davit Meskhi, Lado Miminoshvili, and Mirian Modebadze, with midfielder Giorgi Kveseladze among the replacements.

Wednesday’s match is set to kick off at 6pm local time, 11am Argentina time. All matches will be streamed live by World Rugby.

ARGENTINA
1 Santiago Pulella, 2 José Luiz González, 3 Alejandro Luna, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Lucas Paulos, 6 Bautista Stávile, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Santiago Ruiz, 9 Matías Sauze, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Luciano González Rizzoni, 12 Teo Castiglioni, 13 Facundo Ferrario, 14 Tomás Malanos (capt.), 15 Bautista Delguy

Replacements: 16 Leonel Oviedo, 17 Rodrigo Martínez, 18 Jeremías Tarter, 19 Nahuel Milan, 20 Juan Ignacio Molina, 21 Gonzalo García, 22 Juan Daireaux, 23 Santiago Carreras

GEORGIA
1 Guram Gogichashvili, 2 Levan Papidze, 3 Lasha Tabidze, 4 Beka Saghinadze, 5 Koba Jimshelishvili, 6 Giorgi Nutsubidze, 7 Ilia Spanderashvili (capt.), 8 Arsen Machaladze, 9 Gela Aprasidze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 11 Davit Meskhi, 12 Giorgi Tsiklauri, 13 Bezhan Gaveshelishvili, 14 Lado Miminoshvili, 15 Mirian Modebadze

Replacements: 16 Tengiz Zamtaradze, 17 Ushangi Cheishvili, 18 Guram Papidze, 19 Lasha Jaiani, 20 Tornike Jalagonia, 21 Luka Dvalishvili, 22 Giorgi Gogoladze, 23 Giorgi Kveseladze