Los Pumas legend to face England in fourth World Cup
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Argentina coach Michael Cheika named an experienced side to play their World Cup Pool D opener against England in Marseille on Saturday.
Agustín Creevy will feature in his fourth World Cup having been named on the bench, with fellow hooker Julian Montoya captaining the run-on XV.
When he takes to the field, Creevy will join Mario Ledesma Arocena, Felipe Contepomi and Martin Scelzo as the only Argentines to have played in as many World Cup tournaments.
Julian Montoya, the captain of the side, is preferred above the legendary Creevy.
Nine players in the starting team have World Cup experience.
Argentina have lost all three of their previous World Cup pool matches against England: 39-10 in 2019, 13-9 in 2011 and 24-18 in 1995.
And England have only lost five times to Argentina in 25 matches in total, although Los Pumas ran out 30-29 winners at Twickenham last month in their most recent encounter.
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 1 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Rodrigo Bruni, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Matías Moroni
Date: Saturday, September 9
Venue: Stade Velodrome, Marseille
Kick-off: 21.00 (19.00 GMT: 20.00 UK & Ireland time, 16.00 ART)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
