Albacete back to face the French
Toulouse lock Patricio Albacete will make his return to Argentina’s starting XV for the one-off Test against France in Montpellier this weekend.
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan announced his team on Thursday.
Albacete is one of 10 Argentines playing in France’s Top 14 championship and returns to the starting line-up having missed last weekend’s win over Italy because of a broken toe.
He is the only change to the team which beat Italy 22-16 and comes in for another Top 14 player in Biarritz’s Manuel Carizza, who fractured his arm in the win.
Toulon’s Juan Martin Fernandez-Lobbe has been confirmed to start after an injury scare in the Italy match and takes his place at No.8, alongside flanks Genaro Fessia (Cordoba) and Miguel De Achaval (Alumni).
The front row will be composed entirely of France-based players, with Martin Scelzo and Mario Ledesma of Clermont and loosehead prop Rodrigo Roncero of Stade Francais.
Gonzalo Tiesi (Stade Francais) will play outside centre, while Santiago Fernandez (Montpellier) is at inside centre and another Stade Francais man, Martin Rodriguez, is at fullback.
Wings Gonzalo Camacho and Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino both play their rugby in England, at Leicester and Harlequins respectively, while second row Mariano Galarza plays for Leinster.
The only change on the bench sees Biarritz centre or back Marcelo Bosch return to replace Horacio Agulla.
Pumas: 15 Martín Rodríguez, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Santiago Fernández, 11 Lucas González Amorosino, 10 Felipe Contepomi (captain), 9 Nicolás Vergallo, 8 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 7 Miguel De Achaval, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Santiago Guzmán, 19 Julio Farías Cabello, 20 Álvaro Galindo, 21 Alfredo Lalanne, 22 Marcelo Bosch
Date: Saturday, 20 November 2010
Kick-off: 20.45 (19.45 GMT)
Venue: Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Andy Macpherson (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
