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On Sunday the Argentina XV play host to the Uruguay XV. Their match-up will bring to a close the inaugural Sudamericano 6 Naciones A. The placement of the fixture was expected to mean a title determining match. But with both losing last weekend against Brazil and Chile respectively this is a match about pride.
The Argentina XV’s meltdown performance against Brazil has seen wholesale changes. Head Coach Felipe Contepomi has dumped captain Lautaro Bavaro as well as the skipper against Paraguay, Tomás Cubelli. Leading the team against the Uruguay XV will be Felipe Ezcurra.
Ezcurra is one of six starters with Jaguares experience. The others are fly half Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, lock Ignacio Larrague, flanker Benjamín Macome, wing Manuel Montero, and outside center Matías Moroni.
Díaz Bonilla is the only back retained from last weekend. Santiago Resino moves from outside center to the right wing while the five others joined the side earlier this week. For Pumas Montero and Moroni it is to be the first time in the national set-up this year.
In the forwards only Diego Fortuny remains in the same starting position. He will play hooker while Benjamín Macome moves from second-row to flanker. Joining him in the back-row will be Santiago Montagner, and Rodrigo Bruni but with Bruni named at flanker rather than his usual position at the back of the scrum.
The Uruguay XV are, by design, the national ‘A’ side and are using the tournament for development purposes. Yet the line-up named to face the Argentina XV is close to being Los Teros. With the exception of European-Based players the team named is Los Teros.
A total of ten changes have been made to the team that lost against Los Cóndores. An all-new front-row sees Mateo Sanguinetti, German Kessler and Juan Echeverría taking over from Matías Benítez, Carlos Pombo and Felipe Iniciarte.
In the second-row first choice Ignacio Dotti returns to join Diego Magno with Gonzalo Soto dropping out altogether. Manuel Leindekar will cover Dotti and Magno from the bench.
Regular captain Juan Manuel Gaminara returns to the side at flanker. This sees Leandro Segredo moving to the other side of the scrum and Juan Diego Ormaechea dropping to the bench.
In the backs the first choice scrum-half, Santiago Arata returning taking-over from Tomás Iniciarte. Arata will form a halves combination with Juan Manuel Cat, a player usually featuring in the centers for Los Teros.
The centers at Club Newman will be Andrés Vilaseca and Joaquín Prada. The selection of Vilaseca sees Agustín de Corte left out for the match.
Completing the side will be a strong back-three. Leandro Leivas is back to play right wing. This sees Nicolás Freitas moving to the left in place of Federico Favaro. Completing the line-up at fullback will be Gastón Mieres who replaces Manuel Blengio.
The match has some highly noteworthy individual match-up’s. The scrum-half battle between Felipe Ezcurra and Santiago Arata being a true test for both men. Leandro Leivas impressed against Canada and he now is up against the explosive finisher that is Manuel Montero. Outside centers Joaquín Prada and Matías Moroni both competed at RWC 2015.
Both teams are going to put everything on the line. Their need for redemption is equally profound. The Argentina XV enter as favorites, likely to win by 20 points.
ARGENTINA XV
15 Gastón Arias, 14 Santiago Resino, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Lucas Mensa, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 9 Felipe Ezcurra (capt.), 8 Santiago Montagner, 7 Rodrigo Bruni, 6 Benjamín Macome, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 4 Jerónimo Ureta, 3 Lucas Favre, 2 Diego Fortuny, 1 Nicolás Solveyra
Replacements: 16 Axel Zapata, 17 Franco Brarda, 18 Nicolás Leiva, 19 Federico Gutiérrez, 20 Santiago Portillo, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Tomás Granella, 23 Manuel Bustinduy
URUGUAY XV
15 Gastón Mieres, 14 Leandro Leivas, 13 Joaquín Prada, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 10 Juan Manuel Cat, 9 Santiago Arata, 8 Manuel Diana, 7 Leandro Segredo, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 5 Diego Magno, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 3 Juan Echeverría, 2 Germán Kessler, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti
Replacements: 16 Matías Benitez, 17 Carlos Pombo, 18 Felipe Inciarte, 19 Manuel Leindekar, 20 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 21 Tomás Inciarte, 22 Germán Albanell, 23 Manuel Blengio
Venue: Club Newman, Buenos Aires
Date: Sunday, May 20
Kick-off: 2:30pm (Argentina)
Referee: Henrique Platais (Brazil)
