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On this day, June 13, in 2009 Argentina defeated England in Salta. The home fans in attendance in the northern Argentine city left happy as Los Pumas were 24-22 winners.
Argentina scored tries through flanker Juan Manuel Leguizamón and winger Gonzalo Camacho. Kicking the goals was Juan Martín Hernández who scored 14 points in the match. He took over the kicking from captain Felipe Contepomi who was out after having injured his knee the previous month playing for Leinster vs Munster in the Champions Cup Semi Final.
With Contepomi out of action the captaincy went to the English-based Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe. He was joined by including Marcos Ayerza, Juan Manuel Leguizamón an Gonzalo Tiesi. Moreover, they all played in both RWC 2007 and 2011.
In between the two RWCs Los Pumas were rebuilding. For this specific match there was a weakness at tight head prop. Head Coach Santiago Phelan resolved the issue by playing Ayerza out of position. The one-off selection worked in Salta. Ayerza and Rodrigo Roncero gave Phelan two world-class loose head props for RWC 2011, while Martín Scelzo, Maximilano Bustos and Juan Figallo were his tight heads.
The match saw Gonzalo Camacho making his first appearance against Tier 1 opposition. He and Horacio Agulla went on to be the starting wingers at RWC 2011; both also subsequently had notable careers in England. They combined with the former scoring in the left corner for the best try of the match.
Veteran Rimas Alvarez Kairelis earned his final cap. The second-rower retire from international duty following the match. It was a fitting send off for a player first capped in 1998 and one who missed the historic win over England in London in 2006 due to injury.
Attendance: 20,000
TEAMS
ARGENTINA
1 Rodrigo Roncero, 2 Mario Ledesma, 3 Marcos Ayerza, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Patricio Albacete, 6 Genaro Fessia, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 8 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (capt.), 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 12 Santiago Fernández, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 14 Francisco Leonelli, 15 Horacio Agulla
Replacements: 16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 18 Esteban Lozada, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Nicolás Vergallo, 21 Miguel Avramovic, 22 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino
ENGLAND
1 Tim Payne, 2 Dyland Hartley, 3 Julian White, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt.), 5 Louis Deacon, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Steffon Armitage, 8 Nick Easter, 9 Danny Care, 10 Andy Goode, 11 Matt Banahan, 12 Tom May, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 14 Mark Cueto, 15 Delon Armitage
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 David Wilson, 18 Ben Kay, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Mathew Tait
