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The Argentina XV and Toulon will face-off in the second of two matches this evening. The Top 14 club’s tour of Argentina is serving as a preseason competition. The home side is using the opportunity as a bridge to elevate players to senior test level.
Argentina XV Head Coach Felipe Contepomi has made ten changes from game one. Played last Saturday the Argentina XV ran-out 45-24 winners in Buenos Aires. The team is now searching to win game 2.
For the match in Tucumán, Contepomi has made 10 changes. The former Pumas captain has access to players who missed game 1 due to the Nacional de Clubes Final. They include Franco Brarda, Sebastián Cancelliere, Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, Germán Schultz and Lautaro Bavaro who returns to captain the side from flanker.
Bavaro joins Rodrigo Bruni and Santiago Portillo in a new-look back-row for game 2. Portillo play out of position in the second-row in game 1. The trio will play behind Marcos Kremer and Diego Galetto who lock the scrum. Kremer is one of two Jaguares in the forwards, the other is Felipe Arregui who will play Tight Head. Arregui joins Francisco Ferronato and Gaspar Baldunciel in the front-row.
A Hindú and Jaguares combination will start in the halves. Felipe Ezcurra starts at scrum-half, replacing Gonzalo Bertranou. Joaquin Díaz Bonilla takes over from Juan Cruz González, both players were named in the Team of the Week yesterday.
Tomás Granella holds down the starting inside center position. A change outside him sees Pumita Juan Cruz Mallía taking over from Santiago Álvarez. In the back-three it is all change. Manuel Montero drops to the bench with Germán Schultz occupying his spot. Rodrigo Etchart and Bautista Delguy make way for Sebastián Candelliere and Fernando Luna respectively.
Cancelliere played scrum-half in the Americas Rugby Championship, doing so with tremendous success. His club position at Hindú continues to be right wing. He will play in the latter position against Toulon. Contepomi has Cancelliere covering scrum-half as no specialist has been named on the bench.
Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe captained Toulon in game 1. He will lay no part in today’s encounter. His spot at flanker goes to Raphaël Lakafia with the former Stade Français player moving from No 8. He is one of seven players retained who will also start in Tucumán.
The front-row sees Florian Fresia, Bastien Soury and Emerick Setiano starting. Of them only Setiano also started on Saturday. Both Swan Rebbadj and Mamuka Gorgodze retain their places in the second-row while Jean Monribot and Puma Facundo Isa are to join Lakafia in the back-row.
In the backs JP Pietersen, Mathieu Bastareaud and Eneriko Buliruarua are retained. Bastareaud will wear the captains armband while Buliruarua moves from the left wing to the right. This sees Englishman Chris Ashton making his Toulon debut, replacing his Rugby World Cup 2011 opponent, Vincent Clerc. Hugo Bonneval completes the back-three, starting at fullback ahead of Edoardo Padovani.
In the halves Anthony Meric and Jonathan Wisniewski are both missing. Merit’s spot goes to Eric Escaped while Anthony Belleau takes over from Wisniewski. The change at fly half comes with Wisniewski requiring time off. He broke his hand in game 1.
On the bench for Toulon will be Samu Manoa. The USA enforcer is to complete his return from injury. He had been ruled out of playing in the opening match but is now fit-again and will feature as a replacement.
On paper it is a match between two qualify teams. With the Argentina XV having players who have been playing since as far back as February they are well prepared. Toulon’s players are into their second match of the pre-season. They require a vastly superior performance to avoid defeat this evening. The Argentina XV thereby enter as favorites.
ARGENTINA XV
1 Francisco Ferronato, 2 Gaspar Baldunciel, 3 Felipe Arregui, 4 Marcos Kremer, 5 Diego Galetto, 6 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (Capt.), 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Germán Schulz, 12 Tomás Granella, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Fernando Luna
Replacements: 16 Agustín Gómez di Nardo, 17 Franco Brarda, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Mariano Romanini, 21 Juan Cruz González, 22 Manuel Montero, 23 Franco Cuaranta
TOULON
1 Laurent Delboulbes, 2 Anthony Etrillard, 3 Emerick Setiano, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Facundo Isa, 7 Raphaël Lakafia, 8 Jean Monribot, 9 Eric Escande, 10 Anthony Belleau, 11 Chris Ashton, 12 JP Pietersen, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 14 Eneriko Buliruarua, 15 Hugo Bonneval
Replacements: 16 Bastien Soury, 17 Thomas Vernet, 18 Corentin Vernet, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Anthony Meric, 22 Levan Chilachava, 23 Samu Manoa, 24 Florian Fresia, 25 Marcel van der Merwe
Venue: Lawn Tennis, San Miguel de Tucumán
Kick-off: 9:00pm
