Argentina Head Coach Michael Cheika has named his squad to take on Chile, in a hotly anticipated South American derby tomorrow afternoon. Los Pumas need a bonus point win to take them back into second place, after being leap-frogged in by Japan and Samoa last night.
Argentina are considered the favourites to progress out of Pool D with England, yet they need a big win against Los Condores to keep on the right track. Cheika’s side need to score at least four tries in an expected victory, to secure the all-important bonus point and regain their second placed spot in the pool.
Cheika has shuffled the deck for his Argentina side, with four Rugby World Cup debutants named in the Pumas squad. Argentina Sevens convert Rodrigo Isgro starts on the right wing, with Highlanders fullback Martin Bogado set to don the 15 jersey. On the bench, Perpignan hooker Ignacio Ruiz bides his time for a World Cup debut, alongside his Top 14 teammate Joaquín Oviedo.
Cheika is trying out new tricks for this match against Chile, with eleven changes made from the side that ran out a 19-10 win over Samoa last weekend. Prop Eduardo Bello, lock Guido Petti and flankers Marcos Kremer and Juan Martin Gonzalez are the only four players to retain their places in the match day 23.
The flanking duo are the only two Pumas to start in all three of Argentina’s Rugby World Cup matches, with Kremer having not missed a single minute on the pitch. Cheika has certainly gone for a concoction of experience and youth, as alongside the four Rugby World Cup debutants, three of Argentina’s five most capped players are also selected; Agustin Creevy, Nicolas Sanchez and Tomas Cubelli.
Creevy will equal Mario Ledesma Arocena as Argentina’s most capped Rugby World Cup player in his 18th match. At 38 years and 199 days, Creevy is the fourth oldest player to play a RWC game after Uruguay’s Diego Ormaechea (40 years, 26 days at RWC 1999), Namibia’s PJ van Lill (39 years, 297 days at RWC 2023), and Canada’s Spence McTavish (38 years, 278 days at RWC 1987).
Another memorable milestone sees Nicolas Sanchez earn his 100th cap, becoming only the second Argentine to play a century of test matches. Sanchez is Argentina’s all-time leading point-scorer (872), and requires 16 more points to surpass Gonzalo Quesada as their all-time RWC leading point-scorer.
ARGENTINA TEAM TO PLAY CHILE – 2023 RUGBY WORLD CUP
15. Martin Bogado
14. Rodrigo Isgro
13. Lucio Cinti
12. Jeronimo del la Fuente (C)
11. Juan Imhoff
10. Nicholas Sanchez
9. Tomas Cubelli
1. Joel Sclavi
2. Augustin Creevy
3. Eduardo Bello
4. Guido Petti Pagadizabal
5. Pedro Rubiolo
6. Juan Martin Gonzalez
7. Marcos Kremer
8. Facundo Isa
Replacements
16 Ignacio Ruiz
17 Mayco Vivas
18 Francisco Gómez Kodela
19 Matias Alemanno
20 Joaquín Oviedo
21 Lautaro Bazan Velez
22 Santiago Carreras
23 Juan Cruz Mallia