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Wales play host to Argentina on Saturday. The match is the first of a two-match series between the sides in Cardiff. It was supposed to be a Welsh tour to Argentina; instead, the South Americans are touring Europe this month. The tour started with a narrow escape over Romania. A massively improved performance will be needed against the Six Nations champions.
Wales are confident; the Dragons were comfortable winners over Canada last weekend. Three changes have been made from that match for Saturday’s game. All three come in the backs. First, Kieran Hardy starts at scrum-half to join Callum Sheedy in the halves. Second, Hallam Amos and Owen Lane both start in the back-three alongside Jonah Holmes.
Wales will be looking to the wealth of experience from their captain. Scarlets center will earn his 90th cap for Wales. He leads a team with eight survivors from the most recent meeting between the teams. Ryan Elias, Ross Moriarty, Hallam Amos, Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith, Dillon Lewis, Josh Turnbull, and Tomos Williams all featured for Wales in Santa Fé in 2018.
Los Pumas have a changed line-up. Mario Ledesma has gone for six alterations. They come in the form of four forwards and two backs. One is injury motivated; Enrique Pieretto suffered a knee injury against Romania. Francisco Gómez Kodela replaces him while Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro starts ahead of Facundo Gigena.
Ledesma has retained Marcos Kremer in the second-row and recalled Guido Petti. Tomás Lavanini drops to the bench where he will join Matías Alemanno. The double second-row options means no specialist flanker will be among the replacements. Instead, it is all power up front with Pablo Matera, Facundo Isa, and Rodrigo Bruni starting.
The backs see less movement and also less willingness to look to the future. Veterans Tomás Cubelli, Nicolás Sánchez, and Jerónimo de la Fuente retain their starting places. Outside there is a double change as Juan Imhoff and Bautista Delguy make way for Santiago Cordero and Santiago Carreras. A positional change see Cordero moving from wing and Juan Cruz Mallía starting at fullback.
Ledesma spoke about the upcoming match:
“We did not take the opportunities that we had against Romania: we had 22 opportunities in their 22; from which we converted four of them, this is something very critical, and the opportunities against Wales will be far fewer.”
Historically, Wales have had the better of play in test matches against Argentina. The overall record is 5 wins for Los Pumas compared to 13 for the Dragons. Saturday offers Argentina an ideal opportunity to close the gap.
Ledesma’s side did not play well against Romania. The team, though, is much better than what was presented in Bucharest. The South Americans now have plenty to prove and ought to come away with a strong performance and a victory.
The fixture will be played at the unusual kick-off time of 1pm local. This corresponds to 9am in Argentina.
WALES
1 Nicky Smith, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Dillon Lewis, 4 Ben Carter, 5 Will Rowlands, 6 Ross Moriarty, 7 James Botham, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 9 Kieran Hardy, 10 Callum Sheedy, 11 Owen Lane, 12 Jonathan Davies (capt.), 13 Willis Halaholo, 14 Jonah Holmes, 15 Hallam Amos
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Nick Tompkins
ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Marcos Kremer, 5 Guido Petti, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Facundo Isa, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Santiago Cordero, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Carreras, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Matías Alemanno, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Santiago Chocobares
Date: Saturday July 10 2021
Kick-Off: 1:00pm (Cardiff); 9:00pm (Buenos Aires)
Venue: Principality Stadium, (Cardiff)
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (England) & Karl Dickson (England)
TMO: Claire Hodnett (England)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2018-06-16 Argentina 12, Wales 30 (Santa Fé, Argentina)
2018-06-09 Argentina 10, Wales 23 (San Juan, Argentina)
2016-11-12 Wales 24, Argentina 20 (Cardiff, Wales)
2013-11-26 Wales 40, Argentina 06 (Cardiff, Wales)
2012-11-10 Wales 12, Argentina 26 (Cardiff, Wales)
2011-08-20 Wales 28, Argentina 13 (Cardiff, Wales)
2009-11-21 Wales 33, Argentina 16 (Cardiff, Wales)
2007-08-18 Wales 27, Argentina 20 (Cardiff, Wales)
2006-06-17 Argentina 45, Wales 27 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2006-06-11 Argentina 27, Wales 25 (Puerto Madryn, Argentina)
2004-06-19 Argentina 20, Wales 35 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2004-06-12 Argentina 50, Wales 44 (Tucumán, Argentina)
2001-11-10 Wales 16, Argentina 30 (Cardiff, Wales)
1999-10-01 Wales 23, Argentina 18 (Cardiff, Wales)
1999-06-12 Argentina 16, Wales 23 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1999-06-05 Argentina 26, Wales 36 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1998-11-21 Wales 43, Argentina 30 (Llanelli, Wales)
1991-10-09 Wales 16, Argentina 07 (Cardiff, Wales)
OVERALL RESULTS
Wales 13 Wins
Argentina 5 Wins
