mens
nations-championship
Felipe Contepomi named an experienced line-up with 750 games between them Argentina continue your Nations Championship campaign with skirmish against Ireland on Friday night at the Aviva Stadium.
Moose Cougars are fourth in the Southern Hemisphere standings after the win Wales against was squeezed by defeats that Scotland and England.
Since July, Argentina have suffered defeats from South Africa and Australia, then drew with the Wallabies in their last outing.
After a three-game winless streak, Contepomi hopes his team can turn the corner with a positive result in Dublin.
“We were inconsistent at certain times,” he admitted to the media.
“In July we couldn’t get out of the blocks as quickly as we wanted and then, for player welfare, we rested a lot of players in September and brought in some new guys.
“Overall, we were competitive, but we lost more than we want. That’s not good enough. But I think we’re on the right track and this November series is a good opportunity to play two of the top four teams in the world (Ireland and France) and a team (Italy) that has improved a lot, and then whoever we play in the final week.”
Julián Montoya once again captains Argentina from the sidelines and is one of three centurions in the side, with lock Guido Petti and Pablo Matera replacing the injured Joaquin Oviedo at No.8, who also reached three figures in terms of Test appearances.
Petti and Pedro Rubiolo round out a scrum that has yet to lose food to their own throw-in in the Nations Championship, while Juan Martín González, Marcos Kremer and Matera make up the back row.
Gonzalo Garcia and Tomás Albornoz are halfbacks, while Santiago Chocobares and Justo Piccardo are midfielders.
While losing Santiago Carreras to a season-ending ACL injury is a blow, Contepomi is still capable of playing a back three with plenty of miles on the clock.
Mateo Carreras is on the left wing, Bautista Delguy on the right, while Juan Cruz Mallía completes the team at fullback.
Eight of the XV started the last time Argentina were in Dublin in 2024, while two came from the bench.
Mallía scored Los Pumas’ only try in the 22-19 defeat as the visitors made a mistake trying to overturn a 22-9 half-time deficit.
Argentina squad vs Ireland:
1. WENGER, Boris (11 games)
2. MONTOYA, Julián (120 games) – Captain
3. MORENO, Francisco (3 games)
4. PETTI, Guido (104 appearances)
5. RUBIOLO, Pedro (31 heads)
6. GONZÁLEZ, Juan Martín (51 chapters)
7. KREMER, Markos (83 games)
8. MATERA, Pablo (127 games) – vice-captain
9. GARCÍA, Gonzalo (19 chapters)
10. ALBORNOZ, Tomás (24 chapters)
11. CARRERAS, Mateo (36 chapters)
12. CHOCOBARES, Santiago (35 performances)
13. PICCARDO, Justo (13 games)
14. DELGUY, Bautista (42 appearances)
15. MALLÍA, Juan Cruz (51 games) – Vice-captain
Substitutions
16. OVIEDO, Leonel (3 chapters)
17. VIVAS, Mayco (44 performances)
18. SCLAVI, Joel (32 games)
19. ELIAS, Ephraim (6 appearances)
20. SCELZO, Juan Martín (2 chapters)
21. BENÍTEZ CRUZ, Simon (15 chapters)
22. PRISCIANTELLI, Gerónimo (6 games)
23. CINTI, Lucio (45 games)
