Los Pumas bring in 'new' captain for All Blacks
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi has named his match-day 23 for the upcoming Rugby Championship opener against New Zealand.
Pablo Matera will captain the Los Pumas for the encounter in Wellington.
The flank recently joined the centurion list when he ran out for his 100th Test against France in July.
The 31-year-old is joined by flank Marcos Kremer and No.8 Juan Martin Gonzalez as this weekend’s loose trio.
Pedro Rubiolo and Franco Molina will be the locks.
Eduardo Bello, hooker Ignacio Ruiz and Thomas Gallo will be in the front row. The pair will to put in a big shift in the absence of influential regular captain Julian Montoya.
In the backline, Gonzalo Bertranou and Santiago Carreras are the halfback pairing.
In the absence of Jerónimo de la Fuente, a player from Rosario who recently reached 80 caps with Los Pumas, Santiago Chocobares will be in the midfield with Luio Cinti.
Juan Cruz Mallia returns to the team after participating in the 2023 World Cup in France and will be at fullback.
The bench boasts some big names in the shape of Agustin Creevy and Tomas Lavanini.
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Luio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (captain), 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Ignacio Ruiz, 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Efrain Elias, 20 Tomas Lavanini, 21 Joaquin Oviedo, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Tomas Albornoz.
Date: Saturday, August 10
Venue: Wellington Regional Stadium
Kick-off: 19.05 (04.05 Argentina time; 07.05 GMT)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia) and Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
