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Game two of the three match series moves slightly south from Jujuy to Salta. A win for Argentina would see Los Pumas claiming a historic series win. Argentina were 26-18 winners in the first test match. Both teams had impressive periods of play in the Jujuy test match which suggests that the Salta test one of multiple possibilities.
Michael Cheika’s team for Salta demonstrates confidence. He has made three changes from Jujuy. Up front this sees Rodrigo Bruni replacing Pablo Matera. The Crusader is rested with a minor injury; he will be fine to play in the Santiago del Estero test match.
Bruni joins Juan Martín González and Marcos Kremer in the back-row. Both flanker had heavy workloads in Jujuy. The remainder of the forwards are also repeated from Salta. This includes the replacement forwards. Agustín Creevy will become just the second Puma in history to play his 91st test match.
There are three changes to the backs. Emiliano Boffelli moves from wing to fullback with Juan Cruz Mallia out of the 23. Juan Imhoff starts on the left wing while Santiago Carreras moves from the replacements to start at fly half with Nicolás Sánchez joining Benjamin Urdapilleta on the injured list.
Cheika has adjusted to injuries accordingly. This is demonstrated on the replacements bench. The trio of Felipe Ezcurra, Domingo Miotti, and Matías Moroni were all on the Argentina XV roster to tour Georgia and Portugal. Ezcurra has flown in from Grenoble with Tomás Cubelli and Lautaro Bazán Vélez injured. Imhoff covered scrum-half in Jujuy.
Boffelli and Imhoff are both from Duendes club in Rosario, as is center Jerónimo de La Fuente. All start on Saturday in Salta. Imhoff and Boffelli will both earn their 40th test caps while de la Fuente will earn his 67th.
The match will be the 50th cap for Hamish Watson. The Englishman qualified via a grandparent and first played for Scotland in 2015. Watson joins Matt Fagerson and Rory Darge in the back-row. A change sees Jonny Gray making way for Englishman Sam Skinner to join captain Grant Gilchrist in the second-row.
Zander Fagerson, Dave Cherry, and South African Pierre Schoeman start in the front-row. More foreign-qualified players will start for Scotland in the backs. England’s Ben White and Rory Hutchinson start at scrum-half and fullback, Australian Sam Johnson starts at inside center, and South African Duhan van der Merwe starts on the left wing.
The formation again sees Blair Kinghorn at fly half. He will have a new partner in the halves with White replacing 2021 British & Irish Lions first choice scrum-half Ali Price.
Scotland’s heavy reliance on eligibility-qualified players is detailed above. Of note is that Scotland’s u20’s fell to a 55-17 defeat to Georgia u20’s earlier this week. Georgia’s team is homegrown.
The match is an important building block for RWC 2023. Argentina are preparing for their assault on the Quarter Finals. They are up against England, Japan, Samoa and Americas 2 (Chile or USA). Scotland will be up against Ireland, Romania, South Africa and Asia / Pacific 1 (certain to be Tonga). Both teams missed out on the final eight in Japan 2019; hence, the significance of the ongoing series in northern Argentina
TEAMS
ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Matías Alemanno, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Juan Imhoff, 12 Jerónimo de La Fuente, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Emiliano Boffelli
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Matías Moroni
SCOTLAND
1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Dave Cherry, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Sam Skinner, 5 Grant Gilchrist (capt.), 6 Rory Darge, 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Matt Fagerson, 9 Ben White, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 12 Sam Johnson, 13 Mark Bennett, 14 Darcy Graham, 15 Rory Hutchinson
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Andy Christie, 21 Ali Price, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Kyle Rowe
Date: Saturday, July 09
Kick-Off: 4:05pm (Argentina), 8:05pm (UK)
Venue: Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta (AR)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand); Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
July 02, 2022 – Argentina 26-18 Scotland (Jujuy, AR)
November 24, 2018 – Scotland 14-09 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
June 23, 2018 – Argentina 15-44 Scotland (Resistencia, AR)
November 19, 2016 – Scotland 19-16 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
November 08, 2014 – Scotland 41-31 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
June 21, 2014 – Argentina 19-21 Scotland (Córdoba, AR)
September 25, 2011 – Argentina 13-12 (Wellington, NZ)
June 19, 2010 – Argentina 13-09 Scotland (Mar del Plata, AR)
June 12, 2010 – Argentina 16-24 Scotland (Tucumán, AR)
November 28, 2009 – Scotland 06-09 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
June 14, 2008 – Argentina 14-26 Scotland (Buenos Aires, AR)
June 07, 2008 – Argentina 21-15 Scotland (Rosario, AR)
October 07, 2007 – Argentina 19-13 Scotland (Paris, FR)
November 12, 2005 – Scotland 19-23 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
November 18, 2001 – Scotland 16-25 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
August 21, 1999 – Scotland 22-31 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
June 11, 1994 – Argentina 19-17 Scotland (Buenos Aires, AR)
June 04, 1994 – Argentina 16-15 Scotland (Buenos Aires, AR)
November 10, 1990 – Scotland 49-03 Argentina (Edinburgh, UK)
