NAMED: Cubelli starts as Pumas make six changes for Springboks clash
Brumbies halfback Tomas Cubelli will start as one of six changes when Argentina attempt to exact revenge on South Africa for defeat in their Rugby Championship opener.
The Pumas fell to a 37-15 loss against the Springboks in Port Elizabeth last weekend and head coach Daniel Hourcade has rung the changes as a result, with Cubelli elevated to the first XV at the expense of scrum-half Martin Landajo.
Nicolas Sanchez loses his place at fly-half to the more experienced Juan Martin Hernandez, with the other switches coming in the forward pack.
Lucas Noguera and Ramiro Herrera enter in the prop positions, while Matias Alemanno will start at lock with Juan Manuel Leguizamon taking Leonardo Senatore's number eight shirt.
Senatore and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro did not travel to Salta with the team due to injury.
"We have focused on defensive errors and ball control, trying to correct those little things," Ramiro Moyano told the Pumas' official website.
"They [South Africa] had more of the ball and we defended and that tired us out. We have been working to put pressure on them and take the game to them."
Salta was the venue of the Pumas' upset victory over the Springboks last year.
Este es el equipo que buscará vencer a Sudáfrica, este sábado desde las 16.40hs, en el Estadio Padre Martearena en Salta pic.twitter.com/ztrJ7HQ8uq
— Los Pumas (@lospumas) August 24, 2017
Pumas: Joaquin Tuculet, Ramiro Moyano, Matias Orlando, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Emiliano Boffelli, Juan Martin Hernandez, Tomas Cubelli; Lucas Noguera, Agustin Creevy, Ramiro Herrera, Matias Alemanno, Tomas Lavanini, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lezana, Juan Manuel Leguizamon.
Replacements: Julian Montoya, Garcia Botta, Enrique Pieretto, Marcos Kremer, Javier Ortega Desio, Martin Landajo, Nicolas Sanchez, Matias Moroni.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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