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Los Pumas Head Coach Daniel Hourcade has made two changes to the starting lineup for Sunday’s home international against France. Argentina will take-on the Europeans in Hourcade’s home town, Tucumán.
Coming off a hard-fought 30-24 victory over Italy in Santa Fé, Hourcade has recalled Ramiro Herrera to the starting lineup. The Los Jaguares tighthead prop missed out on playing against the Azzurri due to suspension.
The returning Herrera will be the starting tighthead prop which sees Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro moving to loosehead prop in place of Santiago García Botta. Tetaz Chaparro has experience on both sides of the scrum but has been used by Hourcade in charge with Herrera in the tighthead spot throughout his tenure.
The second change sees the vacancy left by the injured Matías Alemanno giving back-rower Javier Ortega Desio a start out of position. The make-shift selection will see extra responsibility falling on the shoulders of 21 year old Guido Petti.
Should the experiment not go according to plan then Hourcade will have the serves of second-rower Ignacio Larrague on the bench. Game time for Larrague would see the 20 year old making his test debut.
Larrague is one of two alterations to the replacements bench. The second sees utility back Santiago González Iglesias being selected in place of Jerónimo De la Fuente.
Sunday’s match is to be the first of two internationals between the countries this month. On the line is the COPA ICBC. The series will see Argentina vs France completing 50 test matches. Of the prior 48 France has 34 victories compared to Argentina’s winning total of 13. The last time the teams met was in Paris in November 2014 with Argentina winning 18-13.
ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Ramiro Herrera, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Tomás Lezana, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15, Joaquín Tuculet
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Ignacio Larrague, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano
