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Argentina dealt major blow as key figure misses Italy Test

By Avuyile Sawula
Thursday 12 Nov 2026
Julián Montoya Los Pumas 2025

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi has made injury-enforced changes to his matchday squad ahead of their visit to Italy in Genoa on Saturday.

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Los Pumas will enter Round Five of the Nations Championship in search of just their second win after going down 12-42 to Ireland in Dublin at the Aviva Stadium last Friday.

As a result, Contepomi has made five changes to his team, and he’ll be hoping they can capitalise on a bruised Italian side after they went down 7-66 to South Africa.

Continues below…

 

The team will be captained by Pablo Matera in the absence of hooker and captain, Julián Montoya.

Montoya is unavailable due to a head injury he sustained against Ireland.

He has been replaced by Bautista Bernasconi, while Joaquín Moro and Juan Martín Scelzo will start in place of Marcos Kremer, who has a sprained right ankle, and Juan Martín González, who will start on the bench.

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In the backs, Simón Benítez Cruz will wear the number 9 jersey, replacing Gonzalo García.

Meanwhile, Juan Cruz Mallía’s injury forced Contepomi to reshuffle his lineup, with Rodrigo Isgró coming into the starting lineup at wing and Bautista Delguy moving to fullback.

It’s worth noting that Facundo Bosch and Facundo Isa have returned to the national team among the substitutes.

Flyhalf Tomás Albornoz will be entrusted to drive the team forward.

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Argentina have also been dealt some injury blows after Leonel Oviedo suffered a sprained left knee, and Marcos Kremer also picked up an injury.

Argentina: 15 Bautista Delguy, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 13 Justo Piccardo, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomás Albornoz (vice-captain), 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 8 Juan Martín Scelzo, 7 Joaquín Moro, 6 Pablo Matera (captain), 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Francisco Moreno, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Boris Wenger.
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Ephraim Elias, 20 Juan Martín González (vice-captain), 21 Facundo Isa, 22 Gonzalo García (vice-captain), 23 Gerónimo Prisciantelli.

Date: Saturday, 14 November
Venue: Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
Kick-off: 12:40 CET (11:40 GMT, 08:40 ART, Sunday 15 November)
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (England), Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

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