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Seven days after a 20-20 draw, the Dragons and Los Pumas meet again in a series decider in Cardiff, Wales. Quite simply, the winner on Saturday will secure a series victory. For Argentina there is also the historical prospect of completing a European tour unbeaten.
Wales enter the match with seven changes. Gareth Thomas and Leon Brown replace Nicky Smith and Dillon Lewis up front. The call comes following complications in the scrum; it even saw a double yellow card in the first half. Injury to Aaron Wainwright sees former England u20s player Ross Morairty moving from flanker to N8 and Joshua Turnbull starting at flanker.
The backs see a new pair of halves; Thomas Williams and Jarrod Evans replace Kieran Hardy and Callum Sheedy. Meanwhile, Tom Roger takes over from Jonah Holmes and England u20s center Nick Tompkins replaces Tonga u20s center Willis Halaholo.
Argentina have also made changed, but five fewer. The forwards are unchanged; Los Pumas will again have two second-rowers that will transition to flanker if they are to play out the 80 minutes. This sees a repeat of Tomás Lavanini and Matías Alemanno both on the bench and no spot for a specialist back-rower.
The two changes come in the backline. One is due to suspension and the other is tactical. Santiago Carreras moves from wing to replace Juan Cruz Mallía at fullback and Matías Moroni moves from outside center to wing. Santiago Cordero drops out of the 23 while Santiago Chocobares starts alongside Jerónimo de la Fuente in the mid-field.
There are two further alterations. They see Felipe Ezcurra preferred to Gonzalo Bertranou as the replacement scrum-half and Juan Imhoff named as the reserve outside back. He trained at fullback during the week.
Matches between Argentina and Wales date well back into the previous century; however, Wales did not reward caps in matches against Argentina until 1991. Los Pumas last defeated Wales in 2012. On that occasion Sánchez kicked 13 points and Imhoff was a try scorer.
As demonstrated in game one, there is not a lot to separate the teams. Both have a defensive-first mindset. With it opportunities for shots at goal are more common compared to tries. Breaching the opposition line will be a key factor in determine who scores more points and who concedes fewer.
Argentina are favorites to come away with a win. The South Americans held a 20-6 lead in game one; this was the case even with a player red carded. In short, if Los Pumas can play their game well and do so with discipline then they will be hard to beat.
The fixture will be played two hours later than the first test match. The first match was a 9am kick-off in Argentina; game two will be 11am and 3pm local.
WALES
1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Leon Brown, 4 Ben Carter, 5 Will Rowlands, 6 Joshua Turnbull, 7 James Botham, 8 Ross Moriarty, 9 Tomos Williams, 10 Jarrod Evans, 11 Tom Rogers, 12 Jonathan Davies (capt.), 13 Nick Tompkins, 14 Owen Lane, 15 Hallam Amos
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Willis Halaholo
ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Facundo Isa, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Santiago Chocobares, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Santiago Carreras
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Matías Alemanno, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Juan Imhoff
Date: Saturday July 17 2021
Kick-Off: 3:00pm (Cardiff); 11:00pm (Buenos Aires)
Venue: Principality Stadium, (Cardiff)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (England) & Karl Dickson (England)
TMO: Tom Foley (England)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-07-10 Wales 20, Argentina 20 (Cardiff, Wales)
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
1 Draw
