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The final match of the 2018 Rugby Championship will take place on Saturday. It is to be the second fixture of the day following on from South Africa’s home game against champions New Zealand. For Los Pumas the occasion offers the South Americans an opportunity of claiming back-to-back wins over Australia and three wins in the tournament.
Argentine Head Coach Mario Ledesma has made two changes to his staring line-up. Both come in the backline with Matías Orlando starting at center and Ramiro Moyano returning from injury to play left wing.
With Moyano back in the side Matías Moroni will again play wing, doing so with Bautista Delguy sidelined through injury. This also sees Jerónimo de la Fuente moving back to inside center in place of Bautista Ezcurra who drops out of the team.
On the bench Ledesma has again opted for Tomás Cubelli over Martín Landajo. Santiago González Iglesias and Santiago García Botta are also both to feature from the bench after not having been involved last weekend against New Zealand in Buenos Aires.
The under pressure Wallabies have made two changes. Head Coach Michael Cheika has ended the Kurtley Beale experiment and has returned to specialist Bernard Foley to start at fly half. Beale moves out to inside center with Matt Toomua named among the replacements.
The remainder of the side is the same to that which fell to South Africa in Port Elizabeth last weekend. The bench, though, sees an extra man named. Cheika has second-rowers Rory Arnold and Rob Simmons both among the replacements. One of them is expected to be omitted.
A change on the bench sees Tatafu Polota-Nau out of the side. The replacement hooker is unavailable through injury. In his place Tolu Latu will provide back-up to Folau Fainga’a. Also named on the bench is Caleb Timu, covering the back-row.
There are to be a range of notable match-ups in Salta. Israel Folau and Ramiro Moyano will play opposite each other on one wing. Both are very different players but are excellent in beating defenders and in providing support.
Elsewhere Emiliano Boffelli and Dane Haylett-Petty have both filled in well for their countries at fullback and may well be starting there come Japan 2019. Yet look no further than the battle up-front. Argentina need a colossal performance from Ramiro Moyano against Scott Sio.
Saturday will make the 31st test match between Argentina and Australia. The Wallabies have the superior record with 23 victories over Los Pumas. Argentina has six wins while there has also been one draw.
Playing in Australia Los Pumas have two victories. The first was an 18-3 triumph on July 31 1983 in Brisbane. The second took place last month with Argentina winning 23-19 on the Gold Coast 35 years after doing so in Brisbane.
Argentina’s four remaining wins over the Wallabies all took place in Argentina. The first was a 24-13 win in 1979 in Buenos Aires. The match was played at Ferro, the same setting for Argentina’s 24-13 win in 1997. Argentina also won 27-19 in 1987 in Vélez Sarsfield and 21-17 in Mendoza in the 2014 Rugby Championship.
This weekend’s match in Salta will be Australia’s first appearance in the northern Argentine city. A win for the home side will add to wins in Buenos Aires and Mendoza.
In other Rugby Championship matches this year Argentina had performed better than Australia. They have two wins compared to Australia’s one. The side is also far more settled. Yet missing are Juan Figallo, and Bautista Delguy. Should Argentina have a good evening in the scrum they should win. Americas Rugby News predicts Argentina to win by 4.
TEAMS
ARGENTINA
15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements: 16 Julían Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Sebastin Cancelliere
AUSTRALIA
15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Israel Folau, 13 Reece Hodge, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper (capt.), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Tolu Latu, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Rory Arnold, 21 Caleb Timu, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Matt Toomua, 24 Tom Banks
*One Australian replacement will be omitted.
Date: Saturday October 06
Kick-off: 7:40pm (Argentina)
Venue: Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
TMO: David Grashoff (England)
