The Pumas return to the regional Argentina to host England and Uruguay in the July Window Test series. The first match will be this Saturday, July 5 against England at the UNO in La Plata, with the second test scheduled for the 12th July in San Juan. The Pumas third test will be in Salta on July 19 against Uruguay.
Felipe Contepomi's team comes into the first test match after beating the British & Irish Lions 28-24 in Dublin two weeks ago [pictured], and will be looking to return to victory against the English in Argentina, something that has not happened since 2009 (24-22 in Salta). Of the 28 matches played against each other, England has won 21 of them, Los Pumas in five and two ended in a draw.
The last clashes were at the 2023 World Cup in France: a 10-27 defeat in the opening match of the group stage and a 23-26 loss in the Bronze Final. The last visit of the English to Argentina was in 2017 when they faced each other in San Juan and Santa Fe, with losses of 34-38 and 25-35, respectively.
For this match in La Plata, there are four players potentially winning their first cap with the National Team. Benjamín Elizalde, from Salta and Bristol Bears in England, will start at a fullback, becoming the Puma #897.
Bautista Bernasconi, Simón Benítez Cruz and Nicolás Roger will all start on the bench.
Bernasconi and Benítez Cruz played against the Lions in Dublin, but on that occasion they were no caps awarded. For Roger this will be his first time in the match day 23.
Pablo Matera will reach 110 caps, thus equaling Agustín Creevy's mark as the player with the most caps in the history of Los Pumas.
Facundo Isa returns to the team after the 2023 World Cup in France.
Argentina team to play England in La Plata:
1. VIVAS, Mayco (28 caps)
2. MONTOYA, Julián (105 caps) Captain
3. DELGADO, Pedro (2 caps)
4. PAULOS, Lucas (14 caps)
5. RUBIOLO, Pedro (20 caps)
6. MATERA, Pablo (109 caps) Vice-Captain
7. GONZÁLEZ, Juan Martín (40 caps)
8. ISA, Facundo (51 caps)
9. BERTRANOU, Gonzalo (67 caps)
10. CARRERAS, Santiago (53 caps) Vice-captain
11. CORDERO, Santiago (54 caps)
12. PICCARDO, Fair (1 cap)
13. CINTI, Lucio (32 caps)
14. ISGRÓ, Rodrigo (7 caps)
15. ELIZALDE, Benjamin (Sin caps)
Replacements:
16. BERNASCONI, Bautista (No caps)
17. GALLO, Thomas (35 caps)
18. CORIA MARCHETTI, Francisco (1 cap)
19. GRONDONA, Santiago (20 caps)
20. MORO, Joaquín (1 cap)
21. BENÍTEZ CRUZ, Simón (No caps)
22. ROGER, Nicolás (No caps)
23. MORONI, Matías (89 caps)
England team: 15 Steward; 14 Roebuck, 13 Slade, 12 S Atkinson, 11 Muir; 10 Ford (co-c), 9 Spencer; 1 Baxter, 2 George (co-c), 3 Heyes; 4 Ewels, 5 Coles; 6 B Curry, 7 Underhill, 8 Willis
Replacements: 16 Dan, 17 Rodd, 18 Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Cunningham-South, 20 Pepper, 21 Dombrandt, 22 Van Poortvliet, 23 Murley
