Rugby Championship: Argentina v Australia match preview
Last Updated: 04/10/14 11:41pm
Argentina will hope to break their Rugby Championship duck when they host a wounded Australia in Mendoza on Saturday.
The Pumas are preparing to bring the curtain down on their third year in the four-nation competition knowing they have yet to manage anything more than a collection of losing bonus points so far in their previous 17 fixtures.
This season they have again come close to getting that elusive maiden win, most notably at home to South Africa when they led South Africa 31-27 Salta before succumbing to a pair of late penalties from the visitors.
They also pushed the Wallabies hard on Australian soil, going down 32-25 having at one stage trailed by 16 points on the Gold Coast, but were comprehensively beaten by New Zealand last time out.
That 34-13 reverse to the 2014 champions in La Plata has convinced head coach Daniel Hourcade to make changes to his line-up, the most notable of which is the decision to drop Marcelo Bosch.
The centre has to make do with being named amongst the replacements for this weekend as Horacio Agulla – normally more at home on the wing – starts in Argentina's midfield next to Juan Martin Hernandez.
Prop Ramiro Herrera is another player to drop down to the bench, with Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro replacing him in the front row, while Rodrigo Baez comes in for flanker Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, who returned to Toulon last week for the birth of his second child.
"We've tried to balance the physical aspect without altering the team structure too much," Hourcade said.
"There are players who have had a long year and played almost every minute in the tournament and are starting to feel the wear and tear of such a demanding competition."
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Meanwhile, Australia are still counting the cost of their second-half collapse in Newlands. They led South Africa 10-5 at the break but failed to muster any further points, leaking three late tries to gift their opponents a bonus point.
Lock Rob Simmons and No 8 Ben McCalman were both injured against the Springboks – former skipper James Horwill and Scott Higginbotham are their respective replacements in the pack.
Coach Ewen McKenzie has also opted for a 6-2 split on the bench, with Rob Horne selected as the utility back ahead of Kurtley Beale, who was allegedly involved in an in-flight row with a member of team management on the journey to South America.
"We recognize the need to have enough strike-power in the forwards to get us through the back end of the game, especially after such a physical encounter against South Africa followed by a difficult period of travel," McKenzie said.
Australia have lost both away matches so far in the Championship this year but do have some fond memories of playing in Argentina – they won 54-17 in Rosario in the same fixture last season.
Argentina: 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Juan Imhoff, 13 Horacio Agulla, 12 Juan Martin Hernandez, 11 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Benjamin Macome, 6 Rodrigo Baez, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Matias Cortese, 17 Bruno Postiglioni, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Jeronimo De la Fuente.
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps; 1 James Slipper, 2 Saia Faingaa, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 Sam Carter, 5 James Horwill, 6 Scott Fardy, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 8 Scott Higginbotham.
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Jake Schatz, 21 Matt Hodgson, 22 Nic White, 23 Rob Horne.
Watch Argentina v Australia LIVE on Sky Sports 3 HD from 11.30pm on Saturday night