U20 Championship Preview – Argentina vs France

On Wednesday at the Hipódromo de Rosario Argentina need a victory over France to book a place in the 2019 U20 Championship Semi Finals. Their match is to be a final in itself as Los Pumitas take their 1-1 record against group leaders France who have a 2-0 record thus far.

The lead-up to the match was complicated by the citing of fly half Joaquin de la Vega Mendía. He was deemed to have performed a dangerous tackle in the win over Fiji but the committee has since found that it was below the threshold of a red card.

The decision means that de la Vega Mendía is free to face France. It is good news to head Coach José Pellicena who has retained him at 10 for Wednesday’s match.

Pellicena’s team named features three changes to that which faced Fiji. Up front Thomas Gallow has been elevated from the bench, replacing Francisco Minervino; Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel replaces Jerónimo Gómez Vara; while in the backs Gerónimo Prisciantelli starts at center in place of the injured Santiago Chocobares.

The do-or-die match for the tournament hosts means it is a match in which they must take risks. They are up against the 2018 U20 Championship winners, a side which impressed against both Fiji, and Wales. The Europeans go into Wednesday’s match as favorites to win by 5 points.

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Pablo Dimcheff, 3 Francisco Coria, 4 Manuel Burnstein, 5 Lucas Bur 6 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Bautista Pedemonte, 9 Gonzalo García, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Gerónimo Prisciantelli, 13 Juan Pablo Castro (Capt.), 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 15 Ignacio Mendy

FRANCE
1 Jean Baptiste Gros, 2 Rayne Barka, 3 Paul Mallez, 4 Gauthier Maravat, 5 Killian Geraci, 6 Loic Hocquet, 7 Sacha Zeguer, 8 Thibault Hamonou, 9 Quentin Delord, 10 Louis Carbonel, 11 Matthis Lebel, 12 Julien Delbouis, 13 Arthur Vincent (capt.), 14 Vincent Pinto, 15 Alexandre De Nardi

Date: Wednesday, June 12
Kick-Off: 1pm (Local)
Venue: Hipódromo de Rosario