Argentina turn down international fixture in favour of warming up against Australian club side

In the weeks leading up to the World Cup, a number of teams have arranged fixtures against traditional foes to give them one last chance to play with combinations and build some momentum heading into the showpiece tournament.

Tonga will travel to Hamilton to take on the All Blacks whilst Australia will play host to Samoa.

As it turns out, Argentina had the offer of a similar fixture from Fiji, but have rejected that in favour of playing a match against Australia club side Randwick on September 7th.

Argentina, who will be based in Coogee, were approached by World Rugby on the Fiji Rugby Union’s behalf but have evidently decided that a match against the 9th best ranked team in the world is not the best lead-in to the World Cup. Argentina are currently ranked 10th.

The last time the two sides squared off was in the build up to the 2003 World Cup. Argentina triumphed 49-30 in that fixture. The teams have faced off against one another just four times, with Fiji recording a win 28-9 win in the 1987 World Cup to put themselves into the quarter-finals.

Turning down this year’s proposed fixtures means that the last of Argentina’s meaningful matches before the World Cup will be against South Africa on the 17th of August. Two weeks later they will also play a test match against Russia, who have never beaten a tier-1 nation.

Fiji have a 31 August fixture with Tonga but will likely still be on the look out for some meaningful opposition before the World Cup kicks off on September 20th.

Argentina will kick-off their World Cup campaign with a high-stakes game against France whilst Fiji will try to tip over the Wallabies. Both matches will take place on September 21st.