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Saturday is judgment day for Mario Ledesma. Having lost seven test matches in-a-row a win is mandatory against Italy on Saturday. A combination of an inability to be in a winnable positions for so many games as well as a style of play that is not coming together means that it is a case of win or walk for Ledesma.
The formula is really this simple. It is beat Italy and begin preparing for 2022, doing so with the following weekend’s match against Ireland bringing an end to the year. Ledesma’s contract with the UAR expires in December. An extention or not will be known based on what transpires in Treviso on Saturday.
Ledesma took over from Daniel Hourcade in mid-2018. He did so after having had a good first year at the helm of Los Jaguares in Super Rugby. A first appearance in the play-off’s was followed by the same men struggling under Hourcade in the June 2018 Internationals.
Yet, the situation now compared to that which Hourcade faced in November 2017 are very similar. Los Pumas were 0-6 in that year’s Rugby Championship and lost against England in game one of the November tour. Game two was against Italy. A 31-15 win saw Hourcade keeping his job.
Italy are a team in trouble; albeit, one that has made structural changes. Kieran Crowley has taken over as head coach. He will be looking for a good match, and result, against Argentina. Italy’s last win over a top 10 side was the historic win against South Africa in November 2016.
Crowley’s line-up to face Argentina contains two Argentines. Juan Ignacio Brex will earn his seventh test cap while Ivan Nemer will earn his second. Both men debuted for Italy in 2021. They both play their rugby in the country after having been recruited by Benetton from Argentina. They learned all their rugby in Argentina and represented the country prior to moving.
Brex has started test matches at both inside center and outside center. He will play in the latter against Argentina, doing so outside Luca Morisi. Nemer will start at loose head prop in a front-row that also contains Gianmarco Lucchesi and Marco Riccioni.
Argentina is Italy’s second of three opponents this month. The Azzurri are coming off a 47-9 loss against New Zealand last Saturday. Crowley’s team to face Los Pumas features four changes from the team that lost in Rome. Nemer starts ahead of Danilo Fischetti at loose head, Niccolo Cannone replaces Marco Fuser at lock, Giovanni Licata replaces Renato Giammaroli in the back-row, Morisi replaces Marco Zanon in the mid-field and Edoardo Padovani takes over from Federico Mori on the right wing.
Pressure seems to be clear in the selection of Argentina’s line-up. There is little to no evidence that the under-fire Ledesma has not named his first XV. Guido Petti is out with a minor injury. He has been replaced by Marcos Kremer not Lucas Paulos; it comes with a moe from flanker to lock the scrum.
Juan Martín González starts at flanker in place of the shuffled Kremer. The final change is on the wing with Bautista Delguy replaced by Santiago Cordero. It comes despite the uncapped Facundo Cordero having trained in the position on Monday and Tuesday.
Lucio Cinti is preferred as cover from the bench. He joins Gonzalo Bertranou and Nicolás Sánchez as the replacement backs. This sees Gloucester outside back, Santiago Carreras again starting at fly half. The replacements bench also contains two firsts for 2021. The fit-again Santiago Grondona will earn his first cap of the year while Ignacio Calles will make his test debut as the understudy to the Italian-based Thomas Gallo.
Only four Pumas starting players survive from the 2017 fixture. On that day Emiliano Boffelli, Marcos Kremer, Tomás Lavanini, and Pablo Matera all started. Kremer scored his first, and only test try in what was Hourcade’s last win as Head Coach.
ITALY
1 Ivan Nemer, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 David Sisi, 6 Sebastian Negri 7 Michele Lamaro (capt.), 8 Giovanni Licata, 9 Stephen Varney, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 11 Montanna Ioane, 12 Luca Morisi, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 15 Matteo Minozzi
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Giovanni Pettineli, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Federico Mori
ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Marcos Kremer, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Emiliano Boffelli
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Lucio Cinti
Date: Sunday, November 7, 2021
Venue: Stadio Monigo, Treviso, Italy
Kickoff: 2pm (Local); 10am (Argentina)
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Ben Blain (Scotland); Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
Broadcasts: ESPN; Star + (Argentina); Sky Sport (Italy)
RECENT RESULTS
2017-11-18 – Italy 15, Argentina 31 (Florence, Italy)
2016-06-11 – Argentina 30, Italy 24 (Santa Fé, Argentina)
2014-11-15 – Italy 18, Argentina 20 (Genoa, Italy)
2013-11-23 – Italy 14, Argentina 19 (Rome, Italy)
2012-06-09 – Argentina 37, Italy 22 (San Juan, Argentina)
2010-11-13 – Italy 16, Argentina 22 (Verona, Italy)
2008-11-15 – Italy 14, Argentina 22 (Turin, Italy)
