Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade expects tougher England test
Thursday 15 June 2017 22:47, UK
Argentina have made one change for Saturday's second Test against England with Ramiro Moyano coming in on the right wing as they look to bounce back from a 38-34 loss last weekend.
Moyano replaces Matias Moroni as coach Daniel Hourcade prepares his team for what he considers will be an even harder test against an England side without their Lions.
Prop Ramiro Herrera and flanker Tomas Lezana have recovered from injury to be named on the bench, with Santiago Garcia Botta and Leonardo Senatore stepping down.
The Pumas will not want to go down as having lost the series at the stadium nicknamed Elephants Graveyard, home of Argentine first division soccer club Colon.
"We are expecting a much more difficult match in which were going to have to work much harder to try to impose ourselves" Hourcade told reporters.
"We're not satisfied with what we did on Saturday in San Juan. There were positive things but it wasn't enough. We had some domination but we lost and that made us very angry.
"We've focused on being more precise (in our movements) and when we make mistakes (to) react quicker so as not to be damaged."
The tourists scored a last-gasp try to snatch victory in San Juan through replacement back Denny Solomona, one of a raft of England players winning their first caps with 15 players touring New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions.
The defeat left the Pumas regretting yet another failure to secure a win when holding a lead going into the final minutes, with Hourcade pointing to a lack of maturity.
"This has happened to Argentina more than once in recent meetings with top-tier rivals and the loss was their eighth in 10 tests since a 26-24 win over South Africa in Salta last August.
"Professional rugby is still in its infancy in Argentina, whose team suffer from a lack of depth - a gap they need to bridge with other leading nations if they are to compete on an equal footing regularly with the best.
"They are pondering a change to their decision not to pick players based in Europe because of a clash of seasons and the issue of European clubs releasing them for international duty.
"That policy has deprived them of flying Racing Paris wing Juan Imhoff and two veterans who would give their defence more solidity in Toulon flanker Juan Fernandez Lobbe and Saracens centre Marcelo Bosch."
Argentina: 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 4 Matias Alemmano, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon
Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Juan Martin Hernandez, 23 Matias Moroni
