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Argentina team shows four changes for rematch with the Wallabies

(Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

Michael Cheika has made four changes to his Argentina team for this Saturday’s Rugby Championship round two meeting with Australia in San Juan. Los Pumas ran out of steam in last weekend’s tournament opener, losing 41-26 to the Wallabies in Mendoza, and their new head coach has reacted by announcing a quartet of alterations – three of them in his backline.

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The Australian must have been satisfied with how his starting pack fared in round one as there is only a single change up front in the team, Thomas Gallo getting promoted from the Argentina replacements to start at loosehead in place of the benched Manuel Tetaz Chaparro.

It’s in the backs, though, where the changes are more pronounced, Cheika making switches at scrum-half, centre and wing.

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Tomas Cubelli was last weekend named to start at No9 in place of Lautaro Bazan Velez for the round one Rugby Championship game, but he has now been demoted to the bench with Gonzalo Bertranou named as the starter in a half-back partnership with Santiago Carreras.

Elsewhere, Juan Imhoff is named on the left wing with Emiliano Boffelli, the series-clinching try-scorer versus Scotland, switching to the right wing where Santiago Cordero drops out. Meanwhile, Matias Moroni is promoted from the bench to start in place of Matias Orlando at outside centre.

Four of the eight-strong replacements are the same as in Mendoza. Chaparro and Cubelli have both dropped down from the starting XV while Facundo Isa and Lucio Sinti are included as cover with Santiago Grondona excluded from the matchday 23 and Moroni upgraded to start.

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Tom 5 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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