Solitary change for Los Pumas

11/20/2024 05:35 AM

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi has made a solitary change to the starting side that narrowly went down to Ireland this past weekend to tackle the French in Paris.

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The only change in the starting lineup sees Gonzalo Garcia entrusted with the No.9 jersey, replacing Gonzalo Bertranou.

This weekend marks the season finale for Los Pumas on the back of a strong Test year for the South Americans as they seek to conclude the 2024 season in the best way.

Their last visit to the Stade de France was in the 2023 World Cup where they faced New Zealand in the semifinal and England in the third-place playoff.

The last time they met France in Paris was in November 2021 where they went down by 20-29, with their last victory over France in Paris coming in 2014 when they emerged as 18-13 winners.

France comes into this clash after dispatching Japan by 52-12 and New Zealand by 30-29, while Argentina recorded a 50-18 win over Italy before narrowingly going down to Ireland by 19-22.

One of the main changes for this last week of their training camp in Paris was the return of Marcos Kremer and Mateo Carreras to the side.

Kremer had played in eight of Los Pumas' Tests this season while Carreras featured on nine occasions, with both players always making the starting XV.

Carreras along with Juan Cruz Mallia scored five tries this season and has provided the most assists for the South American outfit as well.

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Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia (vice captain), 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Matias Moroni, 11 Bautista Delguy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Pablo Matera (vice captain), 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Mateo Carreras.

Date: Friday, November 22
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Kick-off: 21.10 (20.10 GMT; 17.10 Argentina time)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy), Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)