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Daniel Hourcade has continued with the squad rotation for Argentina’s third and final round match of the Rugby Championship. His team named to face South Africa in Durban on Saturday features only four returning players from the round two fixture against Australia in Mendoza.
Racing 95 winger Juan Imhoff is the only back retained by Hourcade. He will be joined in the back-three by Joaquín Tuculet and veteran Horacio Agulla who both started against New Zealand in the opening round match in Christchurch. Also returning from the All Blacks test is the mid-field combination of Jerónimo De la Fuente and Marcelo Bosch.
In the halves Tomás Cubelli replaces Martín Landajo while Juabn Martín Hernández will earn his first test start of the year and do so at fly half. He is to make a return to Kings Park, the home of the Natal Sharks whom he played a season for in between contracts with Stade Français and Racing 92.
Captain Agustín Creevy and Marcos Ayerza are both to start again in the front-row with Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, as expected, joining them. He replaces Ramiro Herrera who suffered a World Cup threatening injury. Also retained is second-rower Tomás Lavanini who is to be joined by Guido Petti to reform the youthful combination which defeated France in Paris last November.
A new-look back-row sees veterans Leonardo Senatore and Juan Manuel Leguizamón both starting and a first cap in a year for Pablo Matera who was injured in the second round of the 2014 Rugby Championship against South Africa in Salta.
Both South Africa and Argentina enter the match winless making the fixture the battle to avoid the wooden spoon. The big picture, though, is the World Cup and with squad places on the line there is plenty to play for.
Argentina
15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Jeronimo De la Fuente, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Juan Martin Hernández, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizámon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (Captain), 1 Marcos Ayerza
16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Matías Diaz, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Lucas González Amorosino
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Jean de Villiers (Captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lwazi Mvovo
