After the good feelings generated in the series victory against Scotland, Los Pumas are now preparing to his debut against Australia in the first tournament of the yearthe Rugby Championship, in which New Zealand and South Africa also participate.
The Pumas come from winning a test match series against Scotland.
When and where can the game be seen?
The first match against Australia will take place this Saturday, August 6, from 4:10 p.m., at the Malvinas Argentinas stadium in Mendozascenario where Los Pumas obtained two of their five victories in the tournament since their participation began in 2012. The match will be broadcast on ESPN and Star+. In addition, the previous one will be available for both signals and can be followed from 3:00 p.m.
The last victory of Los Pumas against Australia was in 2018 for the Rugby Championship. 23-19.
Earlier, from 12.05the current champions will open their participation, New Zealand, who will face vs. South Africa at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit in the African country.
the fixture
Next week, on Saturday, August 13, the Argentine team will repeat the home match against the Wallabies at the Estadio Bicentenario stadium in San Juan for the second date and at the same time, 4:10 p.m.
Defeat of Los Pumas in Salta vs. Scotland by 29 to 6.
Unlike the format of previous years, in the current edition of the Rugby Championship Argentina will play two consecutive games at home against Australia. Then, the Argentine players will travel to Oceania to visit the All Blacks on August 27 and September 3while in the last two dates, on September 17 and 24, they will alternate locations with South Africa.
An important absence and the rearming of the team
The Australian head coach of Los Pumas, Michael Cheika, confirmed the starting line-up without the opening Nicolás Sánchez, absent due to injury since the first match against Cardo for the advantage in July, in which he only managed to play 20 minutes in the Argentine victory in Jujuy. It seems that his injury is going to last for a long time and the coach himself does not think he will be able to count on him in the short term. “We don’t think he’ll make it to the New Zealand tour,” Cheika said.
Fly half Nicolás Sánchez will not be available to play vs. the All Blacks.
In the absence of Nico, and the loss of Benjamin Urdapilletawho since his injury in the French Top 14 final in late June has failed to recover, the opening position will be entrusted to Santiago Carreras. Although the one in charge of kicking the sticks will be Emiliano Bofelli.
Thomas Cubelliwho had left the concentration at the beginning of the July window due to a tear, will be in the game again from the scrum-half. In addition, captain Julian Montoya will return as hocker, Jerónimo de la Fuente as center and Santiago Cordero in the wing position. And the Cordovan who plays in Gloucester will leave the fullback position to Juan Cruz Mallía.
The Australian coach who leads the team spoke before the game and He commented on the objective that he and his staff have: “We are focused on the things that we can do ourselves”. Furthermore, Cheika noted: “The objective is very clear for us, it is to put the team in a competitive situation with all the selected ones that we are going to face”.
The XV of Los Pumas
1- Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2- Julián Montoya, 3- Francisco Gómez Kodela; 4- Matías Alemanno, 5- Tomás Lavanini; 6- Juan Martín González Samso, 7- Marcos Kremer, 8- Pablo Matera; 9- Tomas Cubelli, 10- Santiago Carreras; 11- Emiliano Boffelli, 12- Jerónimo De la Fuente, 13- Matías Orlando, 14- Santiago Cordero; 15- Juan Cruz Mallia.
Substitutes: 16- Agustín Creevy, 17- Thomas Gallo, 18- Joel Sclavi, 19- Santiago Grondona, 20- Rodrigo Bruni, 20- Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22- Tomás Albornoz, 23- Matías Moroni.
formation of australia
1-James Slipper, 2-Folau Fainga’a, 3-Allan Alaalatoa; 4-Darcy Swain, 5-Matt Philip; 6-Jed Holloway, 7-Michael Hooper, 8-Rob Valetini; 9-Nic White, 10-Quade Cooper; 11-Marika Koroibete, 12-Hunter Paisami, 13-Len Ikitau, 14-Jordan Petaia; 15-Tom Wright. Coach: Dave Rennie.
Substitutes: 16-Lachlan Lonergan, 17-Matt Gibbon, 18-Taniela Tupou, 19-Nick Frost, 20-Rob Leota, 21-Pete Samu, 22-Jake Gordon, 23-Reece Hodge.