CORDOBA, Argentina, :Argentina have made sweeping changes to their team for Saturday’s clash against New Zealand, strengthening their line-up for their opening clash of this year’s Rugby Championship.
Coach Felipe Contepomi, who rotated players in their last three tests against England and Uruguay in June and July, on Thursday picked a strong side to take on the All Blacks at the Estadio Mario Kempes, with the French-based quartet of Santiago Chocobares, Bautista Delguy, Marcos Kremer and Juan Cruz Mallia all returning after missing the mid-year matches.
There are 10 changes from the Pumas’ last international, a 52-17 win over neighbours Uruguay in Salta with only Rodrigo Isgro kept in the backline and four changes in the forward pack.
Prop Francisco Gomez Kodela retired after the game while centre Matías Moroni has been dropped for the first time in more than three years. Injury rules out winger Emiliano Boffelli, flank Benjamín Grondona, who debuted in July, and front rower Thomas Gallo, who is scheduled to return next month.
Last year, Argentina stunned the All Blacks with a 38-30 victory in Wellington in the opening round of the annual southern hemisphere championship but only 14 of 23 who played that day will line-up in Córdoba.
Argentina also beat Australia and world champions South Africa at home in last year’s competition to finish in third place.
Team: 15-Juan Cruz Mallia, 14-Rodrigo Isgro, 13-Lucio Cinti, 12-Santiago Chocobares, 11-Bautista Delguy, 10-Tomas Albornoz, 9-Gonzalo Garcia, 8-Joaquin Oviedo, 7-Marcos Kremer, 6-Pablo Matera, 5-Pedro Rubiolo, 4-Franco Molina, 3-Pedro Delgado, 2-Julian Montoya (captain), 1-Mayco Vivas,
Replacements: 16-Ignacio Ruiz, 17-Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18-Joel Sclavi, 19-Guido Petti, 20-Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21-Simon Benítez Cruz, 22-Santiago Carreras, 23-Justo Piccardo
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
