ARC Preview – Argentina XV vs Canada

The Americas Rugby Championship continues to see matches played far and wide in the Americas. On Saturday the Argentina XV play host to Canada in Jujuy, the country’s northern-most point. Their prior home match against Chile was in the world’s southern-most city Ushuaia. In looking for their third win they host Canada, a team coming off an emphatic victory over Brazil in Langford.

As is now customary Argentina XV coach Felipe Contepomi has not been afraid to make wholesale changes. Of the team that started against Uruguay last Saturday only five retain their place in the run-on side against Canada.

Giant lock Ignacio Larrague is the only forward back-to-back matches for the side in the competition. Franco Brarda returns to the group after training with the Jaguares and is joined by Gaspar Baldunciel and Santiago Medrano in the front row. Santiago Portillo will start in the second row for the first time. With Argentina’s considerable depth at No8 the man from Los Tarcos will experiment with a new position.

At the back of the scrum this week will be Santiago Montagner, who reclaims the starting shirt from Rodrigo Bruni. Both players are in the eyes of Jaguares selectors and might well become Pumas later this year. Tomás de la Vega returns at flanker to lead the side in the absence of Lautaro Bavaro, and highly promising Mariano Romanini is named on the other flank.

The back division has a more familiar look, with three personnel changes and one reassignment. Unwanted by the Jaguares for their South African voyage, Felipe Ezcurra forms a new halfback combination with Lucas Mensa. Santiago Álvarez shifts from outside centre to the wing to allow Santiago Resino a place in the starting lineup.

Canada accepted Brazil’s ribbon-wrapped offering on Saturday but were not as convincing as the scoreline suggested. Numerous errors left points on the board and despite the Tupis playing with only 14 men their hosts could not score any points in the final quarter. The trip from Vancouver has been a long one with the team only arriving on Wednesday.

DTH van der Merwe and Shane O’Leary have not made the trip south, instead returning to their club sides in England. On the other hand Kyle Baillie has made the trip after initially intending to depart. Luke Campbell is a more conspicuous absentee, and it’s unclear why the No8 from last weekend is not in the match day squad.

Baillie will start on the blindside flank with Dustin Dobravsky moving to his natural position at the back of the scrum. Conor Keys steps in at lock for his first start of the 2018 ARC. The forwards are otherwise unchanged though curiously there are three props named on the bench with uncapped Noah Barker joining the team this week.

There are two changes in the backs. Robbie Povey is recalled to start at flyhalf and Brock Staller fills in for van der Merwe on the left wing having already been capped on the right wing and fullback this year. Returning to the squad after a temporary absence is Kainoa Lloyd, the Ontario Arrows winger named on the bench.

As this is not a test match no World Rugby Rankings points are on the line and Canada will not be awarding caps, but will still be keen to make an impression ahead of their final round meeting with Chile. Achieving a win against arguably their most difficult opponent on their home field is at best improbable.

This Argentina XV have too much talent and will be well prepared to deal with the climate and altitude in Jujuy, both of which are likely to drain their visitors in the final quarter. When Canada last played the team in Argentina they fell by a score of 54-21. That gap should be reduced but the most likely result is a comfortable victory for the home side.

ARGENTINA XV
1 Franco Brarda, 2 Gaspar Baldunciel, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Santiago Portillo, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 Mariano Romanini, 7 Tomás de la Vega (capt.), 8 Santiago Montagner, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Lucas Mensa, 11 Rodrigo Etchart, 12 Juan Cappiello, 13 Santiago Resino, 14 Santiago Álvarez, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía

Replacements: 16 Diego Fortuny, 17 Francisco Ferronato, 18 Lucas Favre, 19 Jerónimo Ureta, 20 Nicolás Sbrocco, 21 Gregorio del Prete, 22 Juan Cruz González, 23 Gastón Arias

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru, 2 Ray Barkwill, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 4 Josh Larsen, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Dustin Dobravsky, 9 Phil Mack (capt.), 10 Robbie Povey, 11 Brock Staller, 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Doug Fraser, 14 Cole Davis, 15 Patrick Parfrey

Replacements: 16 Martial Lagain, 17 Anthony Luca, 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 19 Noah Barker, 20 Cam Polson, 21 Andrew Ferguson, 22 Guiseppe du Toit, 23 Kainoa Lloyd

Date: Saturday, February 24
Venue: Gimnasia y Esgrima, San Salvador de Jujuy
Kickoff: 20:10 local (15:10 Pacific, 18:10 Eastern)
Referee: Joaquín Montes (URU)
Broadcasts: TSN (Canada), ESPN3 (USA / South America), World Rugby (Stream)